Bridging the skills gap for the fashion industry
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M Hi Vinay, tell us a bit about yourself! How did you become an expert in your domain?
V I am a trainer, and educator with over 17 years of experience. In 2018, I joined WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production) as a Lead Trainer to develop course materials and conduct many trainings worldwide that were well received by learners across nationalities. I work towards mentoring and inspiring all using pragmatic and thought-provoking models with a blend of engineering and management experience. Global social sustainability is my ultimate goal as a Lead Tutor for WRAP.
After completing studies in mechanical engineering in 2003, I joined the automobile industry and served in the quality assurance process. I got the chance to get introduced to concepts like six-sigma and total quality management. This initial understanding impressed and motivated me to know more about management systems. This led me to then work in the IT industry where I served as a quality manager and implemented various management system standards. Continuing this journey, I landed up in a monitoring organisation in 2007 and got involved in auditing multiple sectors.
Gradually, I obtained knowledge and qualification on environmental standards, occupational health and safety standards, energy standards and social standards. With time and experience, I developed my abilities to educate people on different subjects, and served more than 2500 audit days before becoming a WRAP Lead Tutor and Auditor. My entire journey so far is filled with so many learning experiences and inspiring events. I strongly believe in sharing your knowledge, which I am doing now. Learn from others and make them learn something from you.
M You are teaching the Introduction to Risk Assessment course on MOTIF. Why did you want to create that course?
V An essential part of any organisation- it could be a school, place of worship, amusement park, and place of work- is its safety system. These are places where people congregate, and it is essential to take responsibility for their safety proactively. Conducting a thorough risk assessment and creating a risk management plan literally saves lives. Specific to manufacturing facilities, the opportunities for injuries (minor and fatal) are immense. With this course, any facility can better prepare itself to face likely or inevitable injuries while also mitigating the chances of other harms occurring.
M What are the benefits of taking the course?
V The benefits of taking this course include the opportunity to learn something new that can be practically applied. Some may walk away with learning one new thing, or perhaps it will be a refresher of something they already knew; for others, it may be a completely new topic that, when applied, will enable them to bring unique insight to their workplace.
V This course is best suited for anyone who wants to learn about risk assesment and risk management. We preach that conducting a risk assessment should not be done alone. A well-rounded team is necessary, so it may be best for a team to participate in this course together. We also realise that several individuals read assessments as part of their jobs working on the compliance team of a brand or as part of local government. This course will allow them to develop a keen eye or spot a robust risk assessment’s qualities.
V This is WRAP’s first time launching an online course of this style. We hope that the content, visuals, and real-world scenarios will appeal to participants. This is a true reflection of what I have seen in my professional life. I understand that making a useful risk assessment document is a real challenge for many organisations. This course is just a thrust and motivation for you. This course’s unique selling proposition is that this is based on practical and genuine real-life case studies. It is written in a straightforward, easy to understand language. This course will most importantly develop you as a critical-thinker and analyst.
This course's unique selling proposition is that this is based on practical and genuine real-life case studies.
M How did you build this course?
V It took us almost 3 months to develop this entire course. This was a truly collaborative project. Having had consultations with various stakeholders, including, brands, associations and most importantly the facilities, we understood the needs and expectations of our target audience. Accordingly, we logically created a process flow, balancing both what we want to educate our audience on and what our audience wants to take away from the course. While WRAP is the subject matter expert, MOTIF provided the technical expertise to bring our vision to life. bringing design and shape to our thoughts and experience.
M What were the challenges you faced during the course building?
V Being the first of its kind of project for WRAP, the first challenge was to understand the e-learning program concept. MOTIF helped a lot in providing a detailed framework and planning. To meet their timelines was the next challenge, which we were able to achieve as a team again. As this course is meant for a worldwide audience, we concentrated on including information that is generic and relevant to all. We did not place special emphasis on the apparel sector from a particular region, nor did we want to pin-point or stigmatise the industry’s weaknesses in specific geographies or parts of the supply chain. Hence we incorporated real scenarios and videos, so that a fair representation is given of any apparel industry in the world and the content resonates with and applies to all in our audience, which was in itself also a challenge that we hope we have tackled succesfully. We would like to know hear from you if you feel we have overlooked something.
M Could you share any advice to learners taking the course so they can make the most of it ?
V Like all things in life, taking the time to reflect on what you have learned is imperative in internalising the material. Also, the experience is the best teacher- it may be easy to “click” through the course, but applying what you’ve learned is what makes all the difference. Utilising the resources that WRAP offers may also help; we are here to answer any questions you have and perhaps provide clarity on the topics.
M A final thought to leave our readers with?
V As I’ve said before, we have put our heart and soul into this project. We hope to provide you with a level of information on risk assessment you would not have thought of. Our idea here is to strengthen your risk assessment document and enlarge your vision by looking at things from a different perspective. The adopted approach in this program is paced and structured so that you acquire knowledge gradually as you move through the course. Though it is an e-learning program, we have endeavoured to make it interactive. There are a lot of discussion boards in the class that will help you understand how others think on the same subject. You will also be given feedback on your posted thoughts in the experts’ discussion blocks. Thus, we will try to bring the feel of a training in-person experience.
But this is not all. There is more education we want to equip you with on risk assessment, this is just a beginning and we will be offering follow-on courses. But first, let us see how you enjoy and benefit from our first course. I wish you all the best learning experience and eagerly await for your feedback.
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