Aarsleff Rail – safety course with QR access and an automatic diploma

Aarsleff Rail needed a mandatory safety course that would work in practice: out on the site, on a phone, for both their own employees and external partners – and in several languages.

The solution became a short, mobile-first SCORM course where the user gets access through a QR code, completes the course digitally and receives a diploma automatically on completion. The course is built in Articulate Storyline and Vyond and comes in Danish, English, German and Polish.

The content is built around realistic safety situations where the user has to choose what he or she would do. Not just hear about the rules. Not just click through information. But take a position on concrete situations that resemble the ones you can find yourself in on an Aarsleff Rail site.

»It has been important to us to develop a safety course that works in the reality our employees and partners face every day. Safety is not only about knowing the rules – it is about being able to make the right choices in concrete situations. That is why we have focused on making the learning simple, accessible and close to practice, with realistic cases, mobile access and a format that is easy to complete out on the site.«

Judine Bisgaard, Aarsleff Rail

The challenge: safety is hard to communicate

Safety learning is harder than many people think. Not because the audience does not care – quite the opposite. Most people know that safety matters. Nobody comes to work to get hurt. And many also believe they already have it under control.

That is why it rarely works well to build a long course that goes through the rules first and then tests whether the user can remember them. The problem is not only knowledge. The problem is what you do in the situation.

When you are in a hurry. When a colleague goes first. When you assume conditions are probably the same as yesterday. When something has become so normal that you stop seeing the risk. That last one is an important point in the course: hazard blindness. When you have done the same thing many times without incident, it starts to feel less dangerous. But the risk is still there.

The solution: from QR code to completed course and diploma

The solution was designed as a simple digital flow: the user scans a QR code, logs in or signs up, picks a language, completes the course and receives a diploma as documentation.

That makes the solution practical for an audience that is not necessarily sitting ready at a computer. The course can be completed on a phone, a tablet or a computer, and it is built for users who need to get through quickly and safely without unnecessary complexity.

For Aarsleff Rail it means the safety course can be used as part of the access flow to the site. The user gets proof on completion, and the administration gets more robust digital documentation.

The content: realistic choices instead of long explanations

The course itself takes about seven minutes. It starts with a clear introduction where Aarsleff Rail makes it plain that safety is something the organisation takes seriously. After that the user is put into concrete situations. For example:

You have arrived at the work site. You need to fetch materials some distance away. Between you and the materials lies a track. You were given instruction yesterday. What do you do?

Among other things, the user has to take a position on when you may start work, how you may move around the site, the difference between a work leader and a safety work leader, why railway safety instruction has to be given every day, what you do if an accident happens, and when you should stop and ask.

It draws on what you know from gamification and scenario-based learning: put the user in a situation, give a few realistic options, and let the feedback come at the point where the user has committed. This is not gamification for entertainment. It is gamification as a way to create action, reflection and relevance.

Why the format works better

Once the user has chosen an action, the feedback becomes more relevant. If the answer is wrong, a small teachable moment appears: "Why was that not the right thing to do?" If the answer is right, the feedback can be shorter and confirm the behaviour the user has already chosen.

It makes the course more respectful of the recipient’s time. And it suits safety learning, where many in the audience already have experience but can still end up in situations where doing the right thing is hard. That is why the course also asks directly: would you do the same in real life? Because that is where safety has to work.

»We have had a really good collaboration with ElearningSpecialist throughout the process. There has been great flexibility, willingness to listen and a readiness to adapt the solution along the way, so it fitted our needs and the reality the course has to work in. That has made it possible to create a solution that is both practical and easy to implement day to day.«

Judine Bisgaard, Aarsleff Rail

The result

Aarsleff Rail got a short, digital safety course that combines practical access control with better learning design. The solution gives access through a QR code, mobile-first completion, SCORM format for the LMS, versions in Danish, English, German and Polish, realistic safety scenarios, an automatic diploma on completion, less manual administration and clear documentation of completion.

The course does not turn safety into a long list of rules. It turns safety into concrete choices in situations the user recognises. Because in the end, what matters is not what you can answer in a course. What matters is what you do when you are standing on the site.

See the course here

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The same case — seen through a behaviour lens: on our site Activero we tell this story from the behaviour design side — what actually stood in the way, and what removed it. Read the case on activero.net →