RRC initially provided workplace training to their Health and Safety staff, delivering NEBOSH International General Certificate training to 34 delegates in 2018. This was followed by a further 30 delegates completing the NEBOSH Environmental Certificate in 2018/19.
Following the success of these courses, the Operations Department reached out in 2021 to discuss a highly ambitious training programme for the majority of their employees at their mine in Mauritania. RRC identified IOSH Working Safely as the best courses for the project. The challenge came in the wide variety of languages spoken by the company’s over 3000 site employees.
They considered it key that the training was properly understood, and therefore could not be delivered exclusively in English. RRC were well equipped to provide the solution, having already worked with IOSH on developing and delivering the IOSH Working Safely in Arabic, including the assessment. It was agreed that a new IOSH Working Safely in French would be developed and delivered alongside the existing English and Arabic versions.
Delivery took place over 6 months in 2022, with 4 RRC Associate Tutors with relevant language proficiency travelling out to deliver training on-site. Communication was key to ensure the training was delivered as planned and without issue. RRC’s dedicated Corporate and Customer Services teams were perfectly placed for this, with prompt communication and excellent management ensuring any issues were resolved without impacting the training.
Upon delivery, an interesting challenge occurred regarding the different legal requirements between the local legislation and the more robust standard set by the company's headquarters location in Canada. Tutor Yazid Zaidi, who delivered all the French training, commented:
“The client was using their original country legislation which set high standards to be instituted, on the other hand, locals had relatively poor understanding about their duties and rights from a legal point of view and misinterpreted the efforts of their employer to guarantee a CSR [corporate social responsibility] with the country legal requirements… Understanding what their laws helped in letting them have a clearer picture and value more their employer’s efforts.”
In-person delivery allowed the tutors to familiarise themselves with the industry specific scenarios that would be most relevant to delegates. This enhanced the discussion with and between the learners. This was also helped by the course delivery and materials being in their target language, ensuring clear understanding and communication of key concepts and principles.
Tutor Hasan Alaradi, who delivered courses in Arabic noted the importance of the language delivery for learners:
“Most candidates are native Arabic speakers and they appreciated that such International standard training is delivered in their own language.”
Following the successful launch of the IOSH Working Safely training, the Operational Team at the company requested RRC add additional training for 100 staff members, this time IOSH Managing Safely. These were once again to be delivered in a mix of English, French and Arabic, and a French version was developed by RRC to accommodate. These courses were delivered from August to October 2022.
The training proved successful, with staff in this high-risk industry becoming more aware of hazards and how they can be dealt with, noted Zaidi:
“I have witnessed the client’s personnel developing their perception to occupational hazards and strongly engaging in discussions to understand better what they are dealing with in the course of their work”
The company has continued their commitment to site and personnel safety, and have recently approached RRC to discuss the next phase in their training programme.
