Use of participatory training techniques in a right-to-know train-the-trainer course for New Jersey public employees

The New Jersey Department of Health, in conjunction with the Department of Personnel's Human Resources Development Institute, has developed a Right-to-Know Train-the-Trainer course. In this course, various participatory activities have been utilized since the course's inception in December 1989 to train future trainers who train public employees about recognizing, evaluating, and controlling hazardous substances in their facilities. These participatory training techniques have offered a means by which the trainers can encourage workers to become proactive in making their working conditions safer. With the use of various methods of evaluation, course participants learn the content and develop their skills in the use of participatory training techniques. Though evaluations indicate that participants have a favorable impression of the course, the extent to which these participants take the information back to their worksites has not been formally evaluated.