Worker Safety Advisor Manual
1. Hardware and software needed to run the Worker Safety Advisor
The Worker Safety Advisor will run on any computer that runs windows. The quality of the graphics and speed of operation depends on the quality of your computer.
Sales, pricing, copyright and distributionThe Worker Safety Advisor is copyrighted software. It is available free to anyone in the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS) for use within TDPRS. Free use is also available over the Internet. It is available to load on networks and on stand alone computers based on the following fee schedule.
A. Sale of the Worker Safety Advisor for unlimited use (no source code provided).
a) $300 per computer/user site for the first 2 computers.
b) $200 per computer/user site for 3 to 5 computers.
c) $100 per computer/user site (or network node) use on 5+ computers (minimum of $1000).
B. Unlimited use of the Worker Safety Advisor for teaching by an institution of higher education, e.g., colleges and universities = $250.
C. Modifications of the Worker Safety Advisor simulation to fit your needs can be provided for $35 per hour.
D. Sale of the Worker Safety Advisor source code with license to modify the source code with unlimited use of the modified simulation = $1500.
E. Mentoring of CBT development efforts by University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work staff (call with your proposals).
For a Macintosh version of the Worker Safety Advisor, contact us.
Other options may be available upon request.
Proceeds from the sale of the Worker Safety Advisor will be used to further the University of Texas at Arlington child protective services technology efforts, for example, to develop additional modules.
3. Sponsors, developers, and development process
The sponsoring organizations: The module was developed through a contract between the Center for Child Welfare at the University of Texas at Arlington and the Children's Protective Services Training Institute, Center for Social Work Research at The University of Texas at Austin. It was funded by the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS), Child Protective Services Program.
The developers: The module was developed by Becky Bolen, Graduate Research Assistant and Dick Schoech, Ph.D., Professor and Project Director. Research assistance was provided Sheila Kendricks, Eric Hendricks, and Russel Louer. Secretarial support provided by Carole Kahler.
The development process: The Worker Safety Advisor consists of 9 screens. The knowledge base, when printed, results in approximately 225 pages. The knowledge base is derived from TDPRS training materials, experts' consultation, and a thorough review of the existing literature. The knowledge base consists of approximately 200 hotwords and 50 topic areas, subdivided into 135 subtopics. Also included in Version 2 will be 15 scenarios of worker safety incidents developed by CPS workers and supervisors. The following provided or reviewed expertise for the Worker Safety Advisor.
|
Organization |
Name |
Type of expert |
|
UTA |
Joan Rycraft |
CPS experience and researcher |
|
UTA |
Jo Ann Coe |
Former CPS supervisor, trainer, and Ph.D. student |
|
UTA-DHHS |
Pat Newlin |
Federal regional CPS expert |
|
UTA-TDPRS |
Anna Rae Rozell |
TDPRS PD |
|
TDPRS |
Paul McClean |
TDPRS Trainer & urban expert |
|
CPSTI |
Joan Richardson |
Trainer and curriculum developer |
|
CPSTI |
Sondera Malry |
CPSTI Trainer |
|
Consultants |
Doug O'Dell & Diane Irwin |
National worker safety experts & trainers from New York |
4. To install the full version
2.1 Start Windows.
2.2 Place the disk in your floppy drive.
2.3 In File Manager (Win 3.1) or Windows Explorer (Win 95) move to your floppy drive and double click the setup file to install on Drive C. Setup automatically loads the Worker Safety Advisor on drive C in a new directory called wkrsafe. To install on a different drive, go to 2.6.
2.4 Double click safety1 in the wkrsafe subdirectory on your hard drive to start the Worker Safety Advisor.
2.5 Icons are rather easy to make if you are familiar with the windows environment. If you wish to make an icon for the Worker Safety Advisor so that you can simply click on it to run, please refer to your windows manuals.
2.6 Setup.bat automatically loads the Worker Safety Advisor demo on your C: drive in a new directory called wkrsafe. If this is unacceptable, the setup.bat file must be edited. Setup.bat is printed in the box below.
c
:cd\
md c:\wkrsafe
md c:\wkrsafe\xtras
copy a:safety.exe c:\wkrsafe\safety.exe
copy a:dirtrans.x16 c:\wkrsafe\Xtras\dirtrans.x16
copy a:dirtrans.x32 c:\wkrsafe\Xtras\dirtrans.x32
copy a:readme.bat c:\wkrsafe\readme.txt
copy a:wsmanual.doc c:\wkrsafe\wsmanual.doc
c
:\cd wkrsafe
safety.exe
c
:echo off
echo .
echo =================================
echo Setup is now complete.
echo Exit to Windows Explorer or File Manager and
echo move to the wkrsafe directory of your hard disk
echo double click safety1.exe. You may have to refresh
echo the Windows Explorer or File Manager program to
echo see the newly created wkrsafe directory.
echo ========== end ===================
To modify setup.bat, first, go into your word processing program (for example, Wordpad, Notepad, or Word). Open the file setup.bat that is on the floppy disk.
To place the program on a drive other than C, you must change every "c" in setup.bat to the appropriate drive (for example, "d:"). The letters you must change are in red above. Be careful to make the exact changes as any deviations will result in the program not loading correctly.
To place the file in a directory other than wkrsafe, you must change every "wkrsafe" in the program to the directory name you desire. All changes that you must make are in blue above.
After all changes have been made, save the file as a text (ASCII) file and follow the directions in 2.1 above.
5. To install the demo version
The demo version was developed to allow users to get a quick guided tour through the features of the software. Most of the information on worker safety is not available. Options are suggested to insure that you see all of the features of the software in an organized fashion.
3.1 Start Windows.
3.2 Place the disk with the demo version of the Worker Safety Advisor in your floppy drive.
3.3 In File Manager (Win 3.1) or Windows Explorer (Win 95) move to your floppy drive and double click the setup file to install on Drive C. Setup automatically loads the Worker Safety Advisor on drive C in a new directory called wkrsafe. To install on a different drive, go to 3.6.
3.4 Double click wsademo1 in the wkrsafe subdirectory on your hard drive to start the Worker Safety Advisor.
3.5 Icons are rather easy to make if you are familiar with the windows environment. If you wish to make an icon for the Worker Safety Advisor so that you can simply click on it to run, please refer to your windows manuals.
3.6 Setup.bat automatically loads the Worker Safety Advisor demo on your C: drive in a new directory called wkrsafe. If this is unacceptable, the setup.bat file must be edited. Setup.bat is printed in the box below.
c:
cd\
md c:\wkrsafe
md c:\wkrsafe\Xtras\
copy a:wsademo.exe c:\wkrsafe\wsademo.exe
copy a:dirtrans.x16 c:\wkrsafe\Xtras\dirtrans.x16
copy a:dirtrans.x32 c:\wkrsafe\Xtras\dirtrans.x32
copy a:readme.bat c:\wkrsafe\readme.txt
copy a:wsmanual.doc c:\wkrsafe\wsmanual.doc c:\
cd wkrsafe
wsademo.exe
echo off
echo .
echo =======================================
echo Setup is now complete.
echo Exit to Windows Explorer or File Manager and
echo move to the wkrsafe directory of your hard disk
echo double click wsademo1.exe You may have to refresh
echo the Windows Explorer or File Manager program to
echo see the newly created wkrsafe directory.
echo ============= end =======================
To modify setup.bat, first, go into your word processing program (for example, Wordpad, Notepad, or Word). Open the file setup.bat that is on the floppy disk.
To place the program on a drive other than C, you must change every "c" in setup.bat to the appropriate drive (for example, "d:"). The letters you must change are in red above. Be careful to make the exact changes as any deviations will result in the program not loading correctly.
To place the file in a directory other than wkrsafe, you must change every "wkrsafe" in the program to the directory name you desire. All changes that you must make are in blue above.
After all changes have been made, save the file as a text (ASCII) file and follow the directions in 3.1 above.
4.1 If you have problems, first exit and reboot your computer. See if the error repeats. Computers running Windows 3.1 still rely on the basic 640K memory for many functions. Freeing up base memory by running programs like memmaker may be useful. Computers with Windows 95 should not have memory problems with the Worker Safety Advisor.
4.3 The Worker Safety Advisor can run on monitors with different resolutions, as long as the configuration is for normal or small fonts. If you encounter any problems, set the resolution of your computer's monitor to 640 X 480 (normal or small fonts) and 256+ colors for best results. For instructions, see your Windows manual or the manual that came with your computer's video card. With Windows 95, click on start, settings, control panel, the display icon, and then settings. If the wording in some of the buttons and boxes is partly hidden or the buttons are a little out of place, the font size of your computer's setup is probably set for large and will need to be changed.
5.1 If the program will not run: Turn off your computer as you normally would. Wait 30 seconds and turn it on again. Repeat the installation. If it still does not work, make sure you have enough hard disk space for the files. Computers with less than 50mb of free hard disk space may have problems running programs. Next, check to see that the following files are in their proper location on your hard drive. The relevant directories should look like the following for the demo version. The only change for the full version is that the files wsademo1.exe should be safety1.exe
c:\wkrsafe\wsademo.exe
c:\wkrsafe\Xtras\dirtrans.x16
c:\wkrsafe\Xtras\dirtrans.x32
If the program still will not run, write down what you did to install the program, the precise wording of any errors the computer gave, and contact technical support (see subsequent section).
5.2 If you cannot get your program installed and you have made changes to the setup.bat file: Verify that the changes you made were exactly correct. Make sure that you saved the file as a text (ASCII) file and not as a word processing file, e.g., .DOC file.
5.3 If the program is only on a portion of the monitor's viewing area and you want it to take up the entire screen: The resolution probably needs to be changed to 640 X 480. For instructions, see your Windows manual or the manual that came with your computer's video card. With Windows 95, click on start, settings, control panel, the display icon, and then settings.
5.4 If words at the end or buttons and sentences have letters missing: The size of the fonts probably needs to be changed from large to small or normal. For instructions, see your Windows manual or the manual that came with your computer's video card. With Windows 95, click on start, settings, control panel, the display icon, and then settings.
5.5 If you get an error message while running the program: If you encounter an error message while running the program, it will probably not affect the functioning of the system. Just click on the box that says "okay" or "continue". If the problem continues to occur or it impedes your ability to use the system, refer to number 8 below.
8. Overview, goals and objectives of the Worker Safety Advisor
A performance support system (PSS) improves workplace performance by providing on-demand access to the integrated information needed to complete a task or solve the problem at hand with minimal support from other people. A PSS provides supportive information when it is needed, where it is needed, and in the format in which it is needed.
To test the feasibility of a workstation PSS module, the University of Texas at Arlington has developed this PSS prototype in the area of worker safety. Worker safety concerns the ability to recognize, prevent, assess, handle, and recover from situations that endanger one's physical and emotional well being.
The PSS module presents workers with several computer screens on which they specify the situation about which they need safety information. The module then searches a database of worker safety information and presents relevant information in an easy to read format.
The module is not a replacement for training, nor is training the goal of the module. The module is seen as a refresher for information previously presented during training. However, the module or the information it contains might be used as a training tool.
The Worker Safety Advisor Ver. 1 was developed using Authorware. The worker safety database is being reviewed by a variety of experts after which the revised module (version 2) will be developed and evaluated.
The goal of the Worker Safety Advisor is to provide advice to CPS workers on how to perform their job more safely. The performance objectives are:
1. Workers who use the Worker Safety Advisor will express a higher level of confidence about their knowledge and abilities regarding worker safety in CPS practice as measured by pre and post scores on a worker safety survey of module users.
2. Workers who use the Worker Safety Advisor will be able to better recognize situations as unsafe and recommend appropriate actions to take in unsafe situations as measured by a survey of module users.
3. Workers who use the Worker Safety Advisor will be able to assess the physical and emotional dangers of an unsafe situation as by pre and post scores on a worker safety survey of module users.
4. Workers who use the Worker Safety Advisor will have fewer "unsafe" incidents as measured by self reports in a survey of module users (i.e., a positive correlation will exist between module use and having fewer unsafe incidents when adjusted for factors such as CPS experience, previous personal protection training, etc.).
5. Workers who use the Worker Safety Advisor will have fewer "unsafe" incidents as measured by CPS incident reports (i.e., a positive correlation will exist between module use and officially recorded unsafe incidents when adjusted for factors such as CPS experience, previous personal protection training, etc.).
6. Workers who use the Worker Safety Advisor and experience a threatening situation will take more appropriate action during the incident, more appropriate actions to recover from the incident, and more appropriate actions to prevent future threats as measured by a survey of module users.
Make a list of any problems you have with the Worker Safety Advisor and email them to schoech@uta.edu or fax them to 817-272-2046. Be as specific as possible about the problem by giving a description of the screen (maybe some words for me to search for the proper page) and a detailed description of the problem. Also provide a description of your computer (e.g., Pentium with 16mb of RAM) and specify what operating system you are using. Provide an email address or a Fax number for replying.
The Worker Safety Advisor is intended to provide guidance only. We have accumulated the best information about child protective services worker safety that we could locate. We used a variety of experts and sources and presented these sources along with the information.
The Worker Safety Advisor is not a substitute for training on worker safety, consultation with a supervisor or other safety personnel, or requesting a safety escort in dangerous situations. The developers assume no liability or responsibility for the use or misuse of the information provided by the Worker Safety Advisor.
For additional information, contact Dick Schoech at the University of Texas at Arlington, School of Social Work, Box 19129, Arlington, TX 76019-0129 Ph: 817/272-3964 FAX: 817/272-2046, Internet: schoech@uta.edu.
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