EHAP (Electrical Hazards Awareness Program)
Course Description:
EHAP (Electrical Hazards Awareness Program) is designed to provide workers with convenient, online training to recognize and mitigate electrical hazards in arboricultural operations. Recently revised to align with the latest ANSI Z133 Safety Standard updates, this program also includes a new chapter on radiofrequency awareness and safety.
This course covers ANSI-based required safety training for arboricultural operations and provides easy-to-use documentation for OSHA-required electrical hazards training. EHAP offers online structure and support for employer certification of line clearance arborists and tree workers who work near energized lines on residential properties. The program includes references to the ANSI Z133 Safety Standard.
This course blends online learning with on-the-job skills demonstrations to reinforce practical application in the field. Upon successful completion of the program, learners will receive a certificate demonstrating their ability to learn and retain valuable industry knowledge.
Audience:
Tree care workers of all levels of education/reading comprehension who work near powerlines in residential settings.
Responsibilities:
Revise and redesign existing course to align with our current standards. Update content related to the release of the revised ANSI Z133 safety standard. Worked with SMEs to create a new chapter on radiofrequency hazards.
Tools Used:
Genially, Adobe Premier Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Canva, Genially, H5P, Brightspace, Youtube, Murf
When TCIA began moving courses online, this was the first one and was originally built for us by Brightspace (using our material). Over time, we felt it was no longer up to our standards. I revised the course to ensure all learning objectives were covered, assessment questions were answered in the content, and the course was made more interactive with knowledge checks throughout. From the learner feedback survey, I learned that some interactivities did not work well on a phone, so I took steps to ensure the course is now mobile-friendly.
The ANSI Z133 safety standard was also revised and received significant updates. I went through the EHAP course to update all safety standards included and associated information.
My Process:
I started by connecting all assessment questions to learning objectives to ensure they were all covered. I also compared each assessment question to the chapter it was associated with, to ensure it could be answered with the content. There was a disconnect between learning objectives, assessment questions, and content. I did some work there to add more assessment questions where needed, and, in some cases, add information to the content that was necessary but missing.
I also checked the quiz question statistics in Brightspace to see which questions learners were struggling with the most, so I could reword, change the question type, or add the appropriate information to the course if it was missing.
I reviewed the course on a computer and on a phone to see where things could be made more user-friendly. A lot of our learners took this course on a phone and had complained about the user experience. Certain interactivities proved not to work well on a phone, those were revised to function better.
Knowledge checks were added throughout the course instead of only the last page before a quiz as well, to help with knowledge retention throughout the course.
Since we knew the ANSI Z133 was being updated with significant changes, I worked with a member of the Z133 committee to get early access to their documents, so I could begin updating the course and release it at the same time as the new Z133. I also had them review my changes to ensure I understood the new standards.
The new Z133 has a section on Radiofrequency Hazards, which raised the concern that we needed to cover that in our course, as radiofrequency hazards are becoming more common every year. The challenge here was that there are no set standards or best practices available for tree work done near RF hazards. I took RF Hazard awareness courses online to gather some information, and I worked with UAA (Utility Arborist Association) to write best practices that we could safely recommend, with the limited information we have. The chapter includes information on what radiofrequency is, how to identify hazards, recognizing signs of over-exposure, and what steps to take if they need to perform work near an antenna. After going back and forth several times, we decided that the safest recommendation was to give them information on how to read signage posted, where to find the phone number for each antenna, and to call that number to have it shut down during tree care operations. We also included best practices on documenting all communication with the antenna owner/operator.
Learner Feedback:
See what learners are saying about the newly revised EHAP course!
“Material and information was easier to comprehend through this course”
“Easy to understand and thoroughly detailed”