homeWelcome, sign in or click here to subscribe.login
     


 

 

Construction


print  email to a friend  reprints add to mydjc  
Construction Industry Spotlight logo

May 31, 2001

Cyber safety

  • AdvanceOnline offers 10-hour construction safety training over the Internet.
    • By TERRY STEPHENS
    Special to the Journal

    Across the nation, job safety statistics on fatalities and disabling accidents are trending upward, according to the National Safety Council, rising at an alarming rate over the past eight years.

    AdvanceOnline
    Management Team
    William M. Ashman, president and CEO, a founder of the company and one of the lead investors. Previously he had held senior management roles in domestic and international oil and chemical companies. He earned his bachelor's degree in business administration at the University of Oregon and a post-graduate degree in international business from the Nederlands Institut voor Het Buitenland.

    Wayne Grotheer, P.E., chief operating officer, with 20 years of experience in the environmental health and safety field, was previously president of NetCompliance Products and Services, a provider of environmental health and safety training and compliance programs. Earlier, he was vice president of environmental affairs for Van Waters & Rogers, and director of environmental affairs for Univar Corp.

    Ambrose Bittner, another founding member of AdvanceOnline, is vice president of product development, responsible for managing development of the Web-based courses, associated Web-publishing technologies and the custom training sites for the company’s Online Institute. He joined the company in 1997 after owning a successful business that provided technical writing services for Internet clients. Previously, he spent nine years managing a fiber optic sensor research program for the Boeing Co.

    Brian Maschhoff, Ph.D., vice president of technology, is a founding member of the firm, responsible for managing the technical infrastructure and developing new technologies for delivering training. Previously he was an independent business consultant in Seattle and held research positions at Rutgers University and the Los Alamos and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories.

    Mark Undeberg, vice president of business development, also a founding member of AdvanceOnline, has more than 20 years of experience in public, private and academic environments, including the United States Peace Corps, Sperry-Arabia Ltd. and the University of Alaska. Previously he developed content for Microsoft’s Encarta Encyclopedia.

    Mike Moore, director of finance and administration, manages budgeting and forecasting, general accounting, human resources and administration. He previously worked for Wall Data, Data Base Inc. and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

    To help curb that trend, AdvanceOnline, the Ballard company that has gained a lot of publicity for its Internet-based training programs since it was founded by Hart Crowser in 1997, has launched online training for construction workers. The 10-hour construction safety course, which meets the equivalent requirements of OSHA’s construction regulations course, is under review by the federal agency to become part of its approved curriculum.

    "We find a lot of people already have had basic instructor-led classroom training but our clients want the next level and they understand the online savings in travel, hotel expenses and such. Then there are those who are too busy. Online training doesn’t take them away from production," said Fay Lim, marketing and communications manager for AdvanceOnline.

    "But you can't rely on an online forklift safety course for everything. OSHA still requires a supervisor to observe the person operating a forklift after the online course before he’s certified for the training. A blend of online training and classroom (or hands-on training) works well. Also, online training courses are often more current because it’s easier to update them on the Web than burning new CDs and distributing them," she said.

    Recognizing the importance of online training -- or e-learning -- AdvanceOnline has become a leader in providing Web-based education solutions to help organizations comply with environmental, transportation, and occupational safety and health regulations.

    The company partners with corporations, associations, government agencies and other training providers to design, develop and deploy its Online Institutes (http://institute.advanceonline.com), an expanding network of Web-based training sites designed to help create safer workplaces and assist businesses in complying with mandated safety training and certification requirements of national and state regulatory agencies, as well as maintaining employee training records.

    Partnering trade associations include Associated General Contractors of America and the American Chemistry Council; corporations such as Agilent Technologies’ Heartstream Operation in Seattle and government agencies that include the Environmental Protection Agency Superfund and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

    The newest safety program, developed for the construction industry, includes 10 hours of training that features sessions on an introduction to OSHA, fall protection, scaffolds, electrical safety, materials handling, excavations, personal protective equipment, ladder safety, forklift safety and permit-required confined spaces.

    How AdvanceOnline Grew
    The impetus for forming AdvanceOnline began several years ago when Hart Crowser, a Seattle-based environmental consulting and remediation engineering firm, found its employees needed constant education and certification to comply with state and federal regulations.

    But management also realized that taking workers away from their jobs for traditional classroom training was costing too much, in travel and lodging as well as in time off from work. So, in 1996, the company began creating its own online training programs.

    The classes were so successful that management thought other companies facing similar challenges might be interested in the online training it had developed. In 1997, Hart Crowser incorporated AdvanceOnline as a separate company and began promoting its interactive Internet training programs.

    Recently, AdvanceOnline left the space it shared with Hart Crowser to move to its own offices in the Salmon Bay Center near the Lake Washington Ship Canal. In February, Los Angeles-based Knowledge Universe invested $7 million in AdvanceOnline, enabling the company to expand its course catalog, improve its delivery system and expand the marketing of its services. More than 100 courses are currently being offered, with new ones added monthly.

    The AdvanceOnline programs use interactive technology to engage students and ensure effective learning, according to company officials. The system features narrated programs with animated graphics to supplement the text, links to related material for students who want more information and exams that measure learning against course objectives.

    "AdvanceOnline understands the construction industry and OSHA regulations," said Ambrose Bittner, vice president of product development for the company. "We have combined our expertise in compliance and instructional design to focus on the needs of the construction companies and their workers."

    This fall, AdvanceOnline will be demonstrating its construction safety education programs at the Sept. 26-27 Governor’s Industrial Safety and Health Conference 2001 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle. More than 3,000 people are expected to attend the conference. International Data Corp., a Framingham, Mass., technology research firm, estimates corporate spending for online learning will surpass $9 billion by 2002, up from $1.5 billion in 1999.

    Further information is available by contacting AdvanceOnline, Salmon Bay Center, 5305 Shilshole Ave. N.W., Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98107, (206) 826-4000, e-mail contact-us@advanceonline.com, or visit the company’s Web site at www.advanceonline.com.

    Terry Stephens is a freelance writer based in Arlington. He can be reached by e-mail at features@gte.net.

     

     

     


     

    Terry Stephens is a freelance writer based in Arlington. He can be reached by e-mail at features@gte.net.



    Previous columns:


    
    Email or user name:
    Password:
     
    Forgot password? Click here.