Frequently Asked Questions

What is MoveSMART?
In what kinds of work can MoveSMART help?
What are my options for having MoveSMART delivered in our company?
What is the MoveSMART approach to improving safety performance?
How is the MoveSMART process customized for my company?
What reinforcement do you offer to extend use of MoveSMART techniques and strategies after initial training?
Can I just be trained as a MoveSMART Instructor-catalyst?
Can we train our safety professionals to deliver MoveSMART?
Does MoveSMART fit in with Six Sigma and behavioral observation approaches?
How do I get more training in MoveSMART techniques?
How do I motivate resistant workers to use MoveSMART techniques?
How long does my certification last? How do I get recertified?
If I change jobs, can I train workers at my new company?

Q: What is MoveSMART?

A: MoveSMART is a training and reinforcement-based process for

significant injury reduction with personal strategies and techniques to combat soft tissue and hand injuries, sprains, strains, cumulative trauma disorders, slips, trips, and falls
greater organizational and personal excitement and motivation for safety
increasing assumption of safe actions
developing skills
- mental skills for attention control, judgment, teamwork, and forward thinking
- physical skills that heighten balance, leverage, coordination, and de-concentration of forces in otherwise vulnerable areas
activating and strengthening Safety/Ergo Committee members with tangible skills for high impact that enhance their role and perceived value in their company
boosting worker involvement in overall safety

Q: In what kinds of work can MoveSMART help?

A: MoveSMART has been used in just about every work sector, and in over sixty countries. Our clients say the MoveSMART process has reduced injuries and spurred safety performance in manufacturing, oil, transportation, distribution, mining, and many other industries. Our focus on personal motivation and skills is especially applicable for those who perform tasks with minimal supervision or who deal with changing risk factors out of their, or their employer's, control. Our techniques utilize small changes that make large improvements in safety performance.

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Q: What are my options for having MoveSMART delivered in our company?

A: We currently offer two options for initial training:

Direct Training - our trainers teach your employees in groups of up to twenty maximum participants per seminar. We focus on injury-prevention techniques, and each seminar lasts two and one half to four hours, depending upon your schedule. We can conduct up to two of these seminars in a twenty-four hour period.
- advantages - quick to set up, targets specific groups, cost-effective for smaller sites
- limitations - like any single-shot training intervention, reinforcement is not built in; not cost-effective for larger sites or multi-site locations
Instructor-Catalyst Training (Train-the-trainer) - our fully customized system for significant cultural and safety performance change. Our Master Trainers teach your selected employees as Instructor-Catalysts, informal coaches, and reinforcement agents for behavioral change. We follow up with Instructor-Catalyst refreshers either in person, by teleconference, videoconference, or by other means.
- advantages - for high-level improvement with built-in reinforcement, boosts receptivity to change, motivates personal control for individual safety, improves overall organizational communication and morale, highly cost-effective for multi-site organizations or where there are more than approximately five hundred workers to be trained
- limitations - greater financial and time commitments than with Direct Training

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Q: What is the MoveSMART approach to improving safety performance?

A: Each MoveSMART module emphasizes highly participative, upbeat, practical training tailored to your work population and to their actual tasks and work environment. We've found to change long-standing work habits it's critical to affect behavior at home and in outside activities--reinforcing at-work safety habits while preventing off-work injury. By emphasizing hands-on practical applications with simple "adjustments" that make immediate performance improvement, companies typically report employees are extremely receptive to this company-provided MoveSMART training. We focus on both organizational communications and a motivational approach to safety by working with management, bargaining units, and employee leaders.

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Q: How is the MoveSMART process customized for my company?

A: Each module of the MoveSMART process is customized to the needs, risk exposures, and culture of each client company--none of our programs are canned. The safety history of too many organizations is filled with negative experiences and unsuccessful attempts at using a canned program or one customized for another company. We tailor the techniques taught, applications, and training materials provided to Instructor/Resources to your company's culture, at-risk exposure, and needs. For example, plant-based personnel have different exposures and concerns than those working outdoors. Even in a multi-plant organization, we've found meaningful plant-to-plant differences in worker culture, equipment, layout, and risk exposure.

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Q: What reinforcement do you offer to extend use of MoveSMART techniques and strategies after initial training?

A: The first line for follow-up and reinforcement are your trained and certified MoveSMART Instructor-Catalysts. We provide them with tools, strategies, and ongoing support to sustain, and improve, co-workers' use of MoveSMART methods. We also offer video- and web-based reinforcement systems.

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Q: Can I just be trained as a MoveSMART Instructor-Catalyst?

A: We focus on making significant and lasting improvement in individual safety and safety culture. We don't offer generic training; everything we do is customized to the culture and tasks of an organization. We also aim for supportive cultural change. To catalyze significant and lasting improvement, we train a 'critical mass' core group. These Instructor-Catalysts first teach methods (their highest profile actions, but not their most significant), then informally coach, and thirdly provide ongoing reinforcement for new strategies and techniques.

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Q: Can we train our safety professionals to deliver MoveSMART?

A: Greatest benefits result from using a significant majority of Instructor-catalysts from the ranks of employees, with only a few safety professionals in the core group.

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Q: Does MoveSMART fit in with Six Sigma and behavioral observation approaches?

A: Many of our clients employee Six Sigma and/or behavioral observation and charting. They report the MoveSMART process helps reinvigorate and augment these approaches. Contact us for more information on how to incorporate this into the customization process.

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Q: How do I get more training in MoveSMART techniques?

A: Ask your safety coordinator or training contact if classes have been scheduled for certified MoveSMART Instructor-Catalysts at your company or organization. We offer Refresher and Follow-up courses to bring skills up to date and to share experiences in training co-workers. MoveSMART modules are also available for advanced training in Advancing Strength & Control, HandSMART, SmartSTART, and more. Each advanced module focuses on specific body techniques and injury preventions that target specific problem areas.

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Q: How do I motivate resistant workers to use MoveSMART techniques?

A: People resist if they don't fully understand MoveSMART techniques or their benefits. Help them feel the difference MoveSMART can make by using simple step-by-step demonstrations and checking to see they get the point. Use their own work site tools, so what they learn can be directly applied. Explain the power of attention; where they put their attention is what will be reinforced. Finally, as you coach one-on-one you may uncover reasons unrelated to MoveSMART for their resistance, for instance job problems, personal problems, and so on. You may need outside help to talk to them but, when convinced, resistant workers can turn out to be your greatest allies for safety.

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Q: How long does my certification last? How do I get recertified?

A: When you are trained as a MoveSMART Instructor-Catalyst, you're certified for three years from the date of completing training. If your certification is due to expire, contact your Safety Coordinator or supervisor to schedule a MoveSMART follow-up course for recertification. Find out if others need recertification, to increase support for a new MoveSMART module or follow-up. Your organization has several options in recertifying workers: repeating the regular Instructor-Catalyst training course, taking a follow-up course, or attending an advanced MoveSMART module. Have your Safety Manager give us a call to help assess the best way for you to be recertified.

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Q: If I change jobs, can I train workers at my new company?

A: See if your new company already has certified MoveSMART Instructor-Catalysts. If so, have the Safety Coordinator or manager contact us to verify your certification and ask how to be certified at your new location.

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