Did you know that the chemical manufacturing industry had more than 5,300 lost time injuries that cost the industry over $401 million in 2012.  This is in addition to the number of lost work days and other untracked costs and productivity lost.  $401 million in one industry, image the total cost of lost time injuries nationwide?  Worldwide?  The dollars lost are staggering. The dollars lost to injuries are very hard to recoup for any industry.  The best way to save the money is to not lose the money in the first place.  This is done by finding way to mitigate the risks.  We recently read an article that outlines some of ways. intratrain and inspectiTRAC by Russell Associates can help you with many of the mitigation tasks outlined including. Identify hazards through a good Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) Take corrective action. Follow up to verify improvement. Avoid “top-down” approaches where only managers observe and report. Ensure there is no retaliation for reporting Ask everyone on the team to step up We offer a number of solution designed to help organizations.  Our intRAtrain Safety System components can help.  They include: Safety Knowledge Assessment/ Study- The assessment will review the current safety program components to determine areas for improvement. Employee Safety Training- Training provides the basic knowledge of the safety issues and concerns making employees more risk aware.  Training is available is a variety of methods including online, classroom or blended. Training Documentation- Results of employee training/development are all managed in an online system designed for ease-of-access…

Jerry Van Oort, CEO of intRAtrain™ and inspectiTRAC™ by Russell Associates is preparing to present as part of a panel discussion at the upcoming Baking Tech 2014 event sponsored by the American Society of Baking. The event will be held March 2-4, 2014 in Chicago, IL. Van Oort will be part of a panel group presenting issues related to Inspections/Regulations. His portion of the panel presentation will focus on “The Future of Quality Inspections in the Food Industry is a Mobile Solution”. The session will focus on how the competitive business environment in the food industry and all industries acts as a driver for organizations to seek methods they can use to improve the performance of the organization while reducing respective costs. Companies have found that the ability to automate internal audits, inspections and observations has resulted in reduced time requirements compared to paper-based inspections while still providing accurate and complete data. Additionally, it has been found that the automation of inspections and audits improves the timeliness of data availability resulting in faster turnaround time to resolve critical compliance concerns. inspectiTRAC™, which is available by Russell Associates, is one possible mobile solution available for automating the inspection and audit process. inspectiTRAC™ provides companies with the tools needed to reduce costs associated with inspections, audits, and observations. This software, designed for client customization in a wide range of businesses and industries, reduces employee inspection data collection and transfer time while increasing data accuracy. The tablet-based software is designed to make the inspection and auditing process trouble-free…

Every 10 seconds someone in the United States turns 65. As the baby boomer generation continues to retire and leave the workforce, talent acquisition will continue to be a major concern for companies big and small. In 2012, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and AARP conducted a joint survey focusing on organizations’ strategic workforce planning. The survey found that an increasing percentage of organizations are aware of “a potential shortage of younger workers with the requisite skills needed to replace older workers who are retiring.” What does this mean for your organization? One very real possibility is a knowledge loss or “brain drain” as these older workers retire, taking their experience and skills with them. Without careful planning of how to retain this knowledge, the task of equipping new employees can be overwhelming. The above-mentioned survey found that although 72% of HR professionals described loss of talent due to older workers retiring/leaving the organization as a “problem” or “potential problem”, only 5% had implemented specific policies to deal with it. So what can you do about this? Develop and implement plans to ensure your organization is acquiring and retaining your top talent. This may sound simple enough, but how does an organization go about doing this successfully? intRAtrain™ by Russell Associates has developed an informative whitepaper titled “Acquiring Talent in the 21st Century”. It delves deeper into many of the issues that are affecting employee acquisition today. Sign up for the whitepaper by visiting: http://www.intratrain.com/LandingPages/Talent.html

Recently we found a current employee skills gap survey conducted be LMA Consulting Group and the Inland Empire Chapter of APICS.  The  published Skills Gap Survey is both insightful and enlightening. It validates what most owners and managers know to be true about the skill gaps of employees when hired, and the absence of qualified skilled employees to fill open positions. You will notice the second and third highest rated skill gap needs are communication and presentation and management and leadership in that order. The report also states:  Although traditionally, manufacturers and distributors have been focused on professional and technical skills, soft skills have gained in criticality. Having employees with the technical skills is no longer enough; to compete in today’s new normal business environment, collaboration is a must.  An emerging trend towards professional training and development programs (typically including certification) occurs as executives are faced with bridging skills gap with limited time and internal resources. Read more of the skills gap study by clicking here. Our intRAtrainTM Blended Learning Solutions is an highly effective and efficient approach to filling the skill gaps of new and existing employees.   In a recent interview with Gary Gardner, former Vice-President of Human Resources at a global coating company, intRAtrain™ learned how leaders impact business performance. Gardner commented that when leaders are properly trained you see an improvement in team performance, greater productivity, good communication, and all employees being treated with dignity and respect. When supervisors are not trained properly as leaders there is often team conflict, poor results,…

When founded in 1980, Russell Associates solely developed custom training for business and industry. Over the next 33 years, the company expanded its expertise of training systems to include elearning, blended learning and learning management systems which allow companies to assign, deliver, document and record training. In 2011 the company developed inspectiTRAC™, a data collection and management system that mobilizes the collection, management and storage of regulatory data which provides clients nation-wide with an 80% reduction in employee labor to complete inspections, audits and observations. With the success of inspectiTRAC™ and presence in a new industry segment, Russell Associates found itself with a unique challenge. “It came down to product identity and the ease of understanding all of the products we offer our target market,” said Jerry Van Oort, President and CEO of Russell Associates. “Training systems and training development is the cornerstone of our company. After inspectiTRAC™ ‘s success and recognition as its own brand it only made sense to develop a separate yet complementary brand for our training systems; that is where the intRAtrain™ brand came from The intRAtrain™ name was developed to stand for interactive Russell Associates training.” The intRAtrain™ brand will include the following products and services:     intRAtrain™ Learning Management System     intRAtrain™ Custom     intRAtrain™ Blended Learning     intRAtrain™ Safety     intRAtrain™ Food Safety     intRAtrain™ Library Accompanying the new intRAtrain™ brand is a new logo. The new logo features a partial circle which depicts several concepts, including tree rings to represent growth and digital “bits” to represent technology. The broken circle is completed with…

inspectiTRAC™, Russell Associates’ advanced mobile inspection, audit, and observation system, has expanded the features and functionality of the inspectiTRAC™ Manager portion of the system. inspectiTRAC™ provides companies with the tools needed to reduce costs associated with inspections, audits, and observations. This software, designed for client customization in a wide range of businesses and industries, reduces employee inspection data collection and transfer time while increasing data accuracy. The tablet-based software is designed to make the inspection and auditing process trouble-free by integrating the inspection/audit criteria and location visuals directly into the program design, thus reducing the time needed to complete inspections while also reducing errors in data entry. inspectiTRAC™ Manager is a management system for reporting, scheduling, alerting and notifying of data and resolutions using data collected from inspectiTRAC™. Data collected with the inspectiTRAC™ Data Collector and uploaded to inspectiTRAC™ Manager is available in real-time, providing decision makers with the information they need to address incidents quickly and effectively, ensuring continued productivity. One new enhancement of the system is the report writer tool. The report writer allows users to create a customized report by filtering and sorting data from completed inspections. This report can then be exported, saved for future use, or shared with other users. “Our users asked for the ability to be able to customize and save reports, so we responded. The new report writer is great for those users who need to monitor data routinely. With this feature they only have to create the report once, and from then on it will be…

We are excited to announce that our library of food safety courses is expanding. Russell Associates’ intRAtrain™ Food Safety , a library of training modules designed to effectively and efficiently deliver essential training to employees in the food industry, has released three new modules that provide essential information for all employees in food production. These highly visual, interactive training modules, designed by training experts with years of experience in the food industry, were developed to the standards of industry leaders and can be customized to address facility-specific practices. Jerry Van Oort, CEO of Russell Associates comments, “Food safety is becoming an ever more critical component of food manufacturing. I am excited to expand our selection of food safety courses to include these 3 new courses. They are a great compliment to the other training courses we currently provide.” intRAtrain Food Safety’s newest modules include: Cleaning and Sanitation – This module will give you a general overview of the cleaning and sanitizing process. It presents the difference between cleaning and sanitation, factors effecting cleaning and sanitizing, the basic steps to cleaning and sanitizing, inspections, cleaning records, and food allergens. GMPs – This module discusses standard Good Manufacturing Practices regarding product quality and sanitary manufacturing methods. Topics include personal hygiene, clothing and jewelry in the work place, and personal work habits. Food Safety & Security – This module presents food safety and security issues in a food production facility. Topics include the difference between food safety and food bio-security, the importance of bio-security, physical security, requirements for…

We are excited to have our product inspectiTRAC featured in Refrigerated & Frozen Foods Magazine.   Stop over and check it out. http://www.refrigeratedfrozenfood.com/articles/87394-reduce-or-eliminate-paper-based-audits  

With the recent government shutdown you may wonder about the safety of the food you eat?   Is it still safe?  Are inspections still being completed? Food Safety News has summarized the details. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/09/what-happens-to-food-safety-if-theres-a-government-shutdown/#.Ukry2xCEWik Food safety and inspections are critical regardless of the day of the week.  Contact intRAtrain or inspectiTRAC by Russell Associates.  Let us help you with your food safety training and inspection, audit and observation needs.

Change is inevitable in any successful business, especially one facing regulatory compliance challenges and changes on a set budget. Does your company take a proactive or reactive approach to improving safety efforts? What should you be asking yourself to ensure that your company is prepared for the unexpected? http://ehstoday.com/blog/financial-safety-strategy-five-safety-questions-your-cfo-needs-ask?NL=OH-05&Issue=OH-05_20130912_OH-05_742&YM_RID=jerry@intratrain.com&YM_MID=1422186&sfvc4enews=42 intRAtrain and inspectiTRAC™ are training and regulatory collection systems developed by Russell Associates to improve the safety of your entire operation while lowering costs. Learn more about how we can provide you with the right tools to fix any safety issue at intratrain.com and inspectitrac.com