Convergence Training and Caterpillar Inc. have joined forces at MSHA’s 2011 TRAM event to strengthen ties with the mining community and raise awareness of the value that the two companies bring to the industry. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) hosts the annual Training Resources Applied to Mining (TRAM) event at the National Mine Academy as a venue for sharing the latest safety information and training tools specific to the mining industry.

It was at the 2008 TRAM event that Convergence Training first introduced our groundbreaking Surface Miner Training compliance software, winning First Place for computer-based training products. Since that time, our Surface Miner Training DVDs and software have helped train thousands of miners and mining contractors while virtually eliminating citations related to documentation for our customers.

And now, through our strategic alliance with CAT Safety Services, Convergence Training continues to deliver on our goals of reducing human and monetary costs for our clients by providing superior quality training courses and compliance software.

Visit the MSHA website for more on MSHA Events.

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We’re proud to introduce our two newest additions to our growing Health and Safety and Industrial Essentials training libraries, Forklifts – Reducing Product Damage and Flammable and Combustible Liquids.

Forklifts – Reducing Product Damage covers some of the most common ways forklift operators can cause product damage in a typical warehouse environment and this video also recommends practices for avoiding this damage and the associated costs. This DVD is a must for anyone who’s either purchased our Forklift Safety DVD or currently works with a forklift in a warehouse environment.

Flammable and Combustible Liquids helps raise awareness of the potential hazards presented by common workplace liquids while offering practical instruction on labeling, storage, handling, and managing spills and waste. As a perfect companion to our Fire Extinguisher Safety and Hazard Communication DVDs, this course is will be a vital training tool for anyone interested in building an effective Fire Safety training program.

Find these DVDs at BuyBetterTraining.com or any of our authorized online resellers! And keep checking for more great courses on the way soon.

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At Convergence Training, we’re stomping out bad training everywhere we go. And this year’s National Safety Council (NSC) Congress and Expo in Philadelphia is no exception. Come see us at Booth #3404 for a peek at some of our NEWEST 3D animated safety training courses.

And since the show starts on Halloween, we’ll have a bunch of very special treats for our guests. No, we’re not putting out a dish of hard candy. We’ll have some great prizes and super nice stuff you won’t get from anyone else at the show. Plus, you may just leave the show with some of the best training on the market.

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As Convergence Training has grown over the years in size and technological capability, our attention to detail has also grown more exacting. One of our recent video courses, Supported Scaffold Safety, is a case in point. This course has been our most challenging retail course thus far, in terms of the amount of research on scaffold regulations, visual scaffold component research, storyboard writing, animation, and review of the finished course.

One of the reasons this project was so complex is that there are so many different types of scaffold set-ups. We had to choose which scaffolds we were going to make, and then we had to figure out exactly how to “assemble” the virtual scaffolding so that we were showing correct procedures. For example, when we decided on a large tube-and-coupler scaffold for our primary scaffold in the course, we had to figure out the best way to set up the cross-braces, what kind of ladder system we should use, and what kind of platforms we should use.

Another reason for the amount of research required is that the OSHA scaffold regulations are quite lengthy. Because we were writing an introductory course for construction workers new to working with scaffolds, and because we never want our courses to just be a boring list of regulations, we spent time figuring out the most important scaffold regulations that our audience needed to know and how to structure that information. Good, engaging training takes time to plan.

We had some valuable external assistance on this project. The following people helped us ensure that our training shows realistic depictions of scaffold set-ups, and that our virtual assemblies reflect common construction practices.

• Paul Gogulski, P.E., and construction expert witness, of Gogulski & Associates
• Richard Jessup, OSHA Outreach Trainer, Jessup Consulting Group in Houston, TX
• Ron Haverkost, Senior Safety Officer, Oregon OSHA
• John Ellis, owner of Independent Scaffold Inspection and Training in Nottingham, UK

View a sample clip from our scaffolding video below:

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This past August was a big month for us. Our recent focus on expanding the depth and breadth of our health and safety offerings resulted in the release of six new courses, and our production team is continuing to develop even more material for release in the coming months.

The new courses are currently available from our BuyBetterTraining.com online storefront and from authorized Convergence resellers. Check the links below to view video samples and details of the new material.

Job Hazard Analysis
Machine Guarding
Supported Scaffold Safety
Slips, Trips, and Falls
Trenching & Excavation Safety
Trenching & Excavation Soil Properties

We’ll be launching more new courses in September, so stay tuned. And feel free to contact us with any requests or ideas for courses you’d like to see us build.

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At this point, there should be no doubt about the reach of videos published to YouTube. To that point, our growing audience includes Singapore’s Workplace Safety and Health Council (WSHC), whose Senior Manager very politely contacted us for permission to post our Compressed Gas Cylinder Safety clip on their iWSH Portal. Permission granted.

Display it in good health, WSHC, and we wish you great success promoting safety in Singapore.

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The start of a new school year is just around the corner and that gives us the perfect opportunity to sharpen our knowledge of a number of important safety topics. Our new School Safety Combo-Pack is designed to provide training in areas especially relevant to those working in public or private schools, universities, or day-care centers.

The six DVD set consists of the following courses:

Asbestos Awareness
Bloodborne Pathogens
Electrical Safety General Awareness
Fire Extinguisher Safety
Ladder Safety
Lead-Based Paint Safety

Be prepared. Train your staff on these important safety concepts, practices, and procedures.

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The newest offering from Convergence Training is called Overhead Crane Basics. This course introduces industrial workers to how floor-controlled overhead industrial cranes operate and the basic safe operating procedures for working with them or around them. Training includes:

One of our primary resources has been Frederick “Rick” Heath, of Heath and Associates. Rick is a forensic expert and consultant on industrial machines, specifically lifting equipment like cranes and forklifts. His long-time expertise in manufacturing and engineering has been of great assistance throughout this production. During the writing portion, he helped us with questions about OSHA regulations and ASME standards and how they pertained to overhead cranes. During the multimedia phase, we worked with Mr. Heath to ensure that the 3D crane animations were visually accurate from a “real world” perspective.

Watch a sample of the crane video below, and see what makes Convergence training different.

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We’ve been posting clips and samples of our training videos to YouTube for years now, and all the while we’ve been using a page that was never really properly branded as “Convergence Training’s YouTube Page.”

Well, now that’s changed. We’ve created a brand new Convergence Training YouTube page, and you can now view our videos or subscribe by visiting Convergence3dVideos on YouTube.

We’ve released 8 new courses already this summer and we’ve been posting samples of everything, so if you’re a subscriber and you want to keep being notified when we upload new videos, you’ll want to head to the new page and re-subscribe there. Next week we’ll be turning kdellavalle’s page back over to kdellavalle, and the Convergence videos will no longer be available there.

Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/Convergence3dVideos to view the new page.

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Hot on the heels of our 5 courses released last month, the Convergence Training production team continues to deliver. We’re proud to announce these 3 NEW Environmental Health and Safety courses now available at BuyBetterTraining.com and soon through our authorized network of resellers:

Overhead Industrial Crane Safety
Hot Work Permit
Emergency Action Plans

Check out this sample video from the Overhead Industrial Crane training below.

These new courses represent our continuing goal of improving the quality of each new course and raise the bar for the entire training industry. So check out all of our newest courses, including Safety & Health Basic, Safety & Health Advanced, Hydraulic Fluid Safety, Hot Work Safety, and Lead-Based Paint Safety at BuyBetterTraining.com.

And we’ve got even more courses lined up for release later this summer, so stay tuned to find out what’s coming next.

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It’s that time of year, when temperatures skyrocket and heat-related injuries and lost time at work increase with the rising mercury. And this season, the majority of the U.S. is being hit especially hard with record temperatures. So, since our goal is to get you the training tools you need to help reduce injuries and lower costs, we’re feverishly working on one of our latest courses, Heat Stress Awareness.

Our Heat Stress Awareness course will include important information on:

• The sources of heat stress for workers
• The factors that affect workers’ ability to tolerate heat
• The signs and symptoms of heat stress, including heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat syncope, heat rashes, and heat fatigue
• How to measure the risk of heat stress
• How to reduce the risk of heat stress

We’ll keep you posted on its official release date.

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