Using the SafeThink™ strategy helps workers reduce illness and injury. Participants spend about 80% of workshop time learning the strategy and customizing it to their jobs and work environment(s). Participants use their own relevant work experience and job requirements to internalize the strategy so that they can use it “on the fly”—on and off the job. The SafeThink™ course has eight parts. Each part is learned in a workshop. Each participant receives a SafeThink™ training manual (244 pages) that consists of: self-instruction about agents of cause and controls. There are also instructions on asking “What if . . .?” questions to anticipate hazardous situations created by changes learning activities for each part that help participants learn to apply the SafeThink™ strategy to their own work and work environment a job aid listing the critical thinking questions that are integral to the SafeThink™ strategy

• the importance of generalizing agents of cause and controls
• intuition: strengths and limitations
• developing “good safety habits” and the problem of fading memory
• how personal states (e.g., strong emotions) can increase the risk of injury
• ways to remain mentally focused on the task and to be vigilant
• reasons and motives for safe and unsafe behaviors
• assessing the effectiveness of control

As participants progress through the course, they learn the structured critical thinking strategy to identify, predict, and control hazardous situations. The goal is for participants to learn the strategy and apply it on and off the job—that’s why SafeThink™ training is competency-based. Participants must write a final test to demonstrate they have learned all the questions listed on the SafeThink™ job aid.

Participants require between 16 to 20 hours to complete the SafeThink™ course (each workshop takes about 2 hours). Because the course is modular, the workshop schedule is flexible. Ideally, participants would learn one part per week. This schedule gives participants time to practice applying what they have learned to their jobs and workplaces, receive feedback and encouragement, and then progress to the next part. Another scheduling  option is to complete 2 parts at a time (i.e., one 4-hour session one or two weeks apart).

The goal is for everyone to internalize the critical thinking strategy so that it becomes part of how they think about work, how they plan work, do work, and follow up on work. Workers who use SafeThink™ are safer and more productive.