At MasTec Utility Services, employee training can mean the difference between life and death. That's why the

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At MasTec Utility Services, employee training can mean the difference between life and death. That's why the company—which provides utility construction services for the communications, power, and natural gas industries in North America—believes you can never have too much training.

"There's nothing more important to us at MasTec Utility Services than the health and safety of our MasTec family," says John Congemi, senior director of Employee Development. "The work many of our 5,000-plus employees do is dangerous and difficult. It's critical that our team members return home each evening just the way they arrived at work earlier that day. Effective training ensures that our workforce can operate effectively, efficiently, and most importantly, safely."

MasTec Utility Services' objective every year is to minimize safety incidents, Congemi says. "Although the ultimate goal would be to eliminate incidents all together, we set a realistic target of reducing our OSHA recordable safety incidents by 10 percent over the same period of time the previous year." Last year, the company—which earned a Top 5 ranking on the Training Top 125 for the first time in 2020—also aimed to reduce the number of motor vehicle incidents by 25 percent over the previous year.

Another consistent key strategic goal is to increase productivity. Because margins in utility construction are so tight, even the slightest gains in productivity can lead to dramatic revenue increases. Last year, MasTec Utility Services aimed to increase generated revenue by 10 percent over the previous year. MasTec Utility Services' training programs also empower its employees to create and grow their careers within the utility services industry, Congemi says. "The credentials and certifications employees earn through our training programs open many doors as they advance within the organization. Beyond safety and improved performance, training gives our team members a chance to grow as professionals, take on additional roles and responsibilities, and achieve their goals and dreams."

Safety First

MasTec Utility Services' "Introduction to Safety" training program consists of 24 training modules aimed at teaching new employees the rules, regulations, techniques, and procedures necessary to perform their job duties efficiently and safely. The program is made up of training on topics such as electrical safety, personal protective equipment, fire safety, and fall protection.

Last year, 93 percent of MasTec Utility Services' new employees completed the "Introduction to Safety" training program. The techniques and procedures employees learned in this program led to an 18 percent year-to-date reduction of OSHA recordable safety incidents, Congemi says, adding that MasTec Utility Services also experienced a 7 percent reduction in total incidents during the same timeframe.

Another safety-related training program implemented last year was MasTec Utility Services' new "Defensive Driver" training initiative. "We added to our existing multi-modality curriculum of both online and instructor-led courses addressing driver safety," Congemi says. "Our program now includes modules on hazard recognition, application of collision avoidance techniques, winter driving, awareness of common driving violations that result in collisions, and how to change driving habits to eliminate moving violations. We also provide commercial driver's license preparation training to help set our future drivers up for success."

By the end of last year, 92 percent of MasTec Utility Services employees who drive company or personal vehicles for work had completed the curriculum. "Knowledge and skills gained from the courses led to improved decision-making, appropriate adaptations, and more caution and awareness behind the wheel," Congemi notes. "Our motor vehicle accident rate decreased 33 percent, exceeding our goal by 8 percent. We also were recognized as a Defensive Driving Training Center of the Year recipient by the National Safety Council."

Because so much of MasTec Utility Services' training is focused on safety, reinforcement plays a big role in the company's programs. "We integrate knowledge checks into courses and one-on-one review sessions with management, conduct performance assessments to evaluate how well employees are applying what they learned, and conduct 52 weekly instructor-led training sessions to refresh and verify important knowledge and skills covered in critical programs," Congemi says.

Training Investment

MasTec Utility Services has increased its investment in training and development in the last six years. This last year, the company made a significant investment in decentralizing its training efforts by adding training and development (T&D) resources to each of its regions. "This entailed significant increases in training staff, dollars dedicated for training and development, and even the construction of new training centers in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina," Congemi says. "These additions will enable each region to customize training programs based on their unique projects, customers, laws, and even weather conditions."

Congemi notes that MasTec Utility Services' greatest training challenge continues to be accessibility to its field employees. "Because our field employees are working outdoors, often in remote locations without access to Internet or a cell signal, we have to be creative about reaching them with compliance and just-in-time training," he explains. We need to ensure that employees have an opportunity to complete the training via whichever modality is available due to technology, geography, or resource constraints."

QUESTION:

Based on the article above, choose any TWO (2) type of training that MasTec delivers to their employees and recommend the most appropriate training method to deliver each training. You must justify the suitability of the training method chosen with the type, content and outcome of the training.