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Press release

Digital Occupational Safety: Web-Based Training on Occupational Safety in Workshops

Study & Teaching
Illustration einer Holzwerkstatt mit Cuttermesser, Kreissäge, Bandsäge und Ständerbohrer.

It's been a while since your last health and safety training. You are standing in front of a machine and ask yourself: What was it all about again? This is where the Occupational Health and Safety Digital project comes in. Two web-based training courses (WBT) on working with typical machines in the woodworking shop have been published as free open educational resources (OER). The target group includes applied universities, technical schools, vocational training providers and craft businesses with their own workshops.

The WBTs have been created using the Moodle learning management system (LMS). There is a module for each tool or machine that can be learnt independently. The materials and videos can also be imported into your own LMS. The digital self-learning courses can be used and edited freely. There are QR codes for the individual explanatory videos, which can be stuck to the machines. This makes Digital Occupational Safety a best practice example of workplace-orientated learning and teaching with digital media. If you are interested, the materials can be made available.

Web Based Trainings (WBT)

Two web-based training courses (WBT) have been created. The first WBT is on the subject of cutting, sawing and drilling using the following tools: cutter knife, band saw, circular saw and pillar drill. The second WBT is on the subject of sanding and planing with the following tools: disc sander, edge sander, cylinder sander and thickness planer.

The web-based training courses on occupational safety in the woodworking shop were developed under the project management of Julia Lee, Head of the Digital Teaching Centre (ZEDI), Dr: Katharina Krüth, former employee in the Research and Transfer department, and with the help of employees of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. Julia Lee comments on the design: "The special design with the colourful illustrations from the workshop with fantasy creatures by Ioannis Savvidis, design teacher for the Conservation and Restauration course, makes the content very accessible for younger target groups. When creating the script, together with the head of the wood workshop, Sonja Schmidt, I also took great care to use language that was as easy to understand as possible."

As part of the Occupational Health and Safety Digital project, employees from the workshops and the Occupational Health and Safety department also received further training. The project is therefore a best-practice example of the creative and innovative potential of workplace-oriented projects and the further qualification of employees in digital teaching.

For Gerlinde Reich, Chancellor of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, this project represents a further module in the digitalisation of administration and departments: "We will also transfer the know-how gathered in this project to other areas. Templates for digital self-study courses have been created that can be easily customised. The innovative potential lies in the fact that these can also be used to teach other processes at FHP in the future."

More information at:
https://fh-potsdam.de/arbeitsschutz-digital

Further information and materials

20 high-quality material packages for teaching the WBTs will be given away to universities, schools or companies in Brandenburg. These consist of:

  • 4 x interactive learning posters in A2 for the workshop and classroom on non-translucent paper for WBT 1 and WBT 2, each with and without figures
  • 8x QR code stickers for the machines and exercises, which are highly adhesive
  • QR code flyer for the 4 WBTs

Please contact zedi-helpdesk@fh-potsdam.de for this.

Further information and teaching materials for the web-based training courses can be found at
https://www.fh-potsdam.de/arbeitsschutz-holzwerkstatt-01
https://www.fh-potsdam.de/arbeitsschutz-holzwerkstatt-02
https://www.fh-potsdam.de/arbeitsschutz-holzwerkstatt-03
https://www.fh-potsdam.de/arbeitsschutz-holzwerkstatt-04