There is no denying that regardless of where you work in the mining industry, an overwhelming amount of procedures are involved. Procedures play a vital role in ensuring work is carried out safely and to the same standard each time the work is completed. Standards are also dynamic, being updated for a wide variety of reasons.
Most companies have made the ‘leap’ from paper to online procedures and documentation, with very little benefit to those who are neurodivergent as they are still presented as dozens of pages that require reading through.
When done well, training material has audio, visual and interactive features that are engaging and provide for most learning styles. As someone with ADHD I struggle to maintain attention to things that my brain isn’t stimulated by and becoming easily distracted. I’ve discovered that cartoonised videos with audio and visual prompts, plus regular interactivity and input have successfully kept me engaged.
It is unrealistic to expect every single procedure to developed to this “gold standard” due to the resources required to achieve this and the dynamic nature of many procedures. I also feel it’s unnecessary to have that amount of effort put into procedures or standards that are constrained to one or two pages, and aren’t as information-dense.
I’ve recently discovered some very handy tools that can increase accessibility of written documents. These are free as they are included as part of the Microsoft suite and are available on both Microsoft and Mac operating systems (including ipads).
A standout tool is the Immersive Reader which is available in Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Edge (allowing it to be used on PDF’s), Teams and Outlook. It allows users to adjust how the text appears including;
Column width
Page colour
Line focus
Text spacing
Syllables
These adjustments are key to assisting those with Dyslexia, and are helpful for the broader neurodivergent community. This tool also allows for the document to be read allowed, with pace, tone and accent adjustable to suit the user.
This video is from the Immersive Reader in Word help page and provides a great summary of these features.
Additionally there are dozens of resources available on the Microsoft Support pages, I recommend going to Accessibility tools for Neurodiversity as a starting point.
I have used procedures as one example of how these tools can be utilised. My expectation is that companies spread the awareness of these tools throughout the organisation and normalise their day-to-day use.
コメント