Training and Certification of Highway Maintenance Workers (2015)

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CONTENTS 1 SUMMARY 5 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background, 5 Report Organization, 5 Synthesis Objectives, 5 Synthesis Scope and Approach, 6 Terminology, 6 7 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW Overview, 7 Why Maintenance Training and Certification Is Necessary, 7 Changing the Way Technical Training Is Delivered, 8 Training Development and Delivery Partnering Efforts, 9 Linking Training to Performance, 10 12 CHAPTER THREE STATE OF THE PRACTICE Overview, 12 Survey Content, 12 General Training Program Overview, 13 Training Content and Delivery, 14 Incentives to Take Training, 17 Frequency of Training Events and Tracking Participation, 18 Evaluating the Effects of Training on Worker Performance and the Organization, 19 Training Development, 20 22 CHAPTER FOUR CASE EXAMPLES Approach, 22 Delivery Methods, 23 Materials Sharing, 27 Linking Training to Performance, 28 31 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS Overall Findings, 31 Further Research, 32 33 ACRONYMS 34 REFERENCES 35 APPENDIX A SURVEY RESULTS 125 APPENDIX B SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (WEB VERSION ONLY) Note: Many of the photographs, figures, and tables in this report have been converted from color to grayscale for printing. The electronic version of the report (posted on the web at www.trb.org) retains the color versions.

SUMMARY TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION OF HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE WORKERS Highway maintenance workers perform a broad range of activities related to the mainte- nance and operation of the highway network under a variety of weather and traffic con- ditions. In the performance of their duties they are exposed to a variety of challenges and hazards. These workers need appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform their activities effectively, thereby promoting the mobility, safety, and preservation of the nation’s highway system. Accordingly, suitable training and certification of maintenance workers is vital to their efficiency and safety. In recent years, highway transportation agencies have dealt with a “perfect storm” of circumstances that have forced them to reevaluate how they develop, deliver, and document training for front-line maintenance workers. These circumstances include reductions in operating budgets; reductions in maintenance staff resulting from hiring freezes, layoffs, and retirement; loss of institutional knowledge and experience; additional skill require- ments for software and equipment operation; and increased federal training and certifica- tion requirements for certain technical areas. In addition, maintenance plays a vital role in supporting highway transportation agen- cies’ plans to meet asset management requirements, as documented in the 2012 highway legislation commonly known as Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (or MAP- 21). Collecting roadway inventory and condition data, reporting resource usage, and meet- ing performance targets in various technical areas are some of the additional tasks that maintenance must support. The response to changes in maintenance operations varies considerably from state to state and province to province, resulting in great diversity in training and certification pro- grams across the United States and Canada. The objective of this synthesis is to document what the states, provinces, and territories are doing to meet these challenges and identify innovative programs, procedures, and products that are successfully meeting training needs for front-line maintenance workers in the current climate. This includes a discussion of the types of content being delivered; the methods used for delivery; the technology being used to support training; the procedures that are in place to support workforce development, including incentives and requirements; and the opportunities being leveraged to capitalize on training budgets through pooled-fund initiatives and materials-sharing partnerships. In addition, this synthesis documents the efforts highway transportation agencies are undertaking to align training with workforce development goals and performance objec- tives, as well as to track the impact of training on individual job performance. The information contained in this synthesis was obtained using three different sources. First, a literature review was conducted to provide background information about the state of maintenance training and certification practice. Second, a survey asking for information about training and certification practices was distributed to each of the voting members

2 of the AASHTO Subcommittee on Maintenance (SCOM) and 13 Canadian ministries of transportation (MOTs). A total of 41 state departments of transportation (DOTs) (82% of the 50 states) and six MOTs (46% of the 10 provinces and three territories) responded to the survey. Finally, follow-up interviews with representatives from eight DOTs, the Clear Roads research program, the Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council (TC3), and the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) at North Dakota State University were conducted to expand on the following three aspects of their programs: • Delivery methods: what methods of delivery are being utilized and why? • Training and resource sharing opportunities: what partnerships and resources have been established to extend limited maintenance training resources and how do they operate? • Training and performance: how well are training efforts aligned with performance expectations for maintenance workers? These three topic areas were identified for further investigation for several reasons. First, on reviewing the survey results, the highway transportation agencies appeared to be showing the most divergence and innovation in these features of their programs. Therefore, the case examples highlight innovative practices and programs that can serve as models for other agencies. Second, given the cost associated with the development and delivery of training, it is insightful to know which delivery methods agencies consider to be the best value and how they make decisions about alloting precious training dollars. Finally, performance manage- ment is a common focus of government policy and initiatives. Therefore, it is of interest to see how training is being used to convey information about performance expectations and how to meet those expectations. The survey results show that most state and provincial highway transportation agen- cies provide technical training to front-line highway maintenance workers, regardless of the size of their maintenance workforce or whether they utilize contract maintenance staff to perform maintenance functions. In addition, the training offerings are varied across the following five technical training areas: • Bridges, • Highway safety and reliability, • Pavements, • Roadway/roadside, and • General maintenance skills. Within each of the five categories, highway transportation agencies identified subtopics for which they provide training. All but one of these subtopics (General Maintenance Skills) align with the AASHTO SCOM Technical Working Groups. (The Equipment Group was represented as a subtopic under each of the first four categories to better identify the type of equipment training provided.) Survey respondents documented the training delivery meth- ods they use and the topics for which training is required or certification offered. By and large, instructor-led training and on-the-job training are still the most widely used methods for delivering training across all content areas and are largely considered the most effective. However, several agencies did document growing use of alternative delivery methods, such as web-based training. There is a less consistent use of requirements and certifications for training because agencies require and certify content in each of the five technical categories for different reasons. Certification is usually done to meet safety and liability concerns. Agencies also identified their sources for facilitating training, largely citing experienced agency employees as their most utilized instructor base. Contractors and consultants were also used, in addition to equipment manufacturers, other agency personnel (if a training partnership existed), community colleges, and unions.

3 Most agencies indicated that they are developing training in-house and that more than 50% of their training development efforts are conducted internally. The survey of practice included questions that focused on the incentives to take training offered by the highway transportation agency. These questions offered insight on how agen- cies motivate front-line maintenance workers to complete training. The agencies that offer incentives identified the types of incentives offered. Incentives include the opportunity to acquire new skills, keep pace with technology, and be promoted. Several agencies also noted that the completion of training can qualify an employee for a new job or wage increase. It appears that only about half of the agencies align training courses with employee performance requirements and significantly less consider technical training completion as a component in evaluating performance. Of that group, almost all formally document training completion on the performance evaluation. Most agencies indicated that supervisors support training enrollment by making rec- ommendations on training to the employee. About two-thirds of the agencies stated that supervisors consider training completion when making promotion recommendations. The survey results indicate that most maintenance employees attend mandatory and nonmandatory training at least once a year and in several instances, more than once a year. The most cited reasons for retaking training are requirements and supervisor recommendations. Only nine of 47 highway transportation agencies indicated that they measure the effec- tiveness of training on employee performance. Among these, the data are usually collected in the form of a survey administered to participants that measures their impressions of the effects of training on their performance. No states identified using more objective measures to determine the impact of training on an employee’s performance. Eight of the 47 agencies collect data to determine the impact of training on the organiza- tion. Among these, the method of measuring impact is a survey sent to maintenance per- sonnel asking for their impressions of the impact of training on the maintenance program. In a couple of instances, more objective methods are used, such as compiling pre- and posttraining employee evaluation data and analyzing the results. On the subject of additional training needs, each of the five content categories was selected by survey respondents as an area for which additional training was needed. Gen- eral maintenance skills was the most widely selected technical content area for which additional training was needed, with pavement training not far behind. Some of the most identified topics for additional training under general maintenance skills were planning and scheduling, customer service, and maintenance quality assurance program inspec- tions. It may be possible for an agency such as TC3 to utilize this needs list and communi- cate directly with the states requesting this training to identify existing training products or development of new training products. In addition to existing training needs, the results from this synthesis identified sev- eral gaps in current knowledge that could be addressed by research and outreach activi- ties. One area in which further study is needed is the use of technology-based delivery methods, such as web- or computer-based training, web or video conference training, or mobile training, by the state highway agencies. Many of the technology-based methods can mitigate training challenges such as scheduling conflicts and limited travel budgets. Research is needed on the barriers to adopting these methods, cases of successful use at state highway agencies, and guidance on appropriate content for and implementation of technology-based methods.

4 Additional research is also needed on how agencies measure the impact of training on an individual’s performance and the most effective methods for collecting these data. Without this information it is very difficult to justify the importance of training to employees and man- agement and to determine if training products are supporting workforce development goals. Finally, further outreach is needed to document the alignment between training and perfor- mance expectations for front-line maintenance workers and to disseminate this information to state highway agencies. This might be achieved through a peer exchange or facilitated web or video conference with agencies that have established programs. Information gathered might include how the link between training and performance objectives is established, tracked, and recorded and how that information is used to determine employee advancement.

5 – Incentives to take training, – Frequency of training events and tracking participation, – Evaluating the effects of training on worker perfor- mance and the organization, and – Training development. • Chapter Four—Case Examples. This chapter summa- rizes the information provided by the eight state DOTs, the Clear Roads research program, TC3, and UGPTI at North Dakota State University about delivery meth- ods, training and resource sharing opportunities, and training metrics. Information on the development of their maintenance training programs and the rationale behind important decisions such as certification areas is provided in order to document how the maintenance training program evolved and how it aligns with per- formance requirements for maintenance workers. • Chapter Five—Conclusions. The synthesis concludes with a summary of key observations and suggested areas for further research and outreach for the training and certification of front-line maintenance workers. • Appendices—Two appendices are included with the synthesis. Appendix A, which is available in both the print and electronic versions, presents the responses to the survey questions. Appendix B provides a copy of the questionnaire that was distributed electroni- cally to the state and provincial participants. It is not included in the printed version of the report, but is in the web version. SYNTHESIS OBJECTIVES The objective of this synthesis is to document and sum- marize current practices for training and certification of front-line highway maintenance workers in areas such as pavements, bridges, roadsides, equipment, highway safety and reliability, and general maintenance skills. The synthe- sis focuses on training directly related to the performance of job duties. For the purposes of this synthesis, training is defined as a structured, repeatable learning experience that follows a formalized plan. To the extent possible, the synthesis documents the rationale behind decisions concerning training and certification. This information is intended to help agencies evaluate and improve their maintenance training and certification programs. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND The response to changes in maintenance operations varies considerably from state to state and province to province, resulting in great diversity in training and certification pro- grams across the United States and Canada. The objective of this synthesis is to document training activities conducted by states, provinces, and territories to meet challenges to main- tenance operations, and to identify innovative programs, procedures, and products that successfully meet training needs for front-line maintenance workers. This includes a discussion of the types of content delivered, the methods used for delivery, the technology used to support training, the procedures in place to support workforce development (including incentives and requirements), and the opportu- nities leveraged to capitalize on training budgets through pooled-fund initiatives and materials-sharing partnerships. In addition, this synthesis documents highway trans- portation agencies’ efforts to align training with workforce development goals and performance objectives, as well as to track the impact of training on individual job performance. REPORT ORGANIZATION This synthesis of practice is organized into the five chapters described here: • Chapter One—Introduction. This chapter introduces the synthesis, providing background information and summarizing the scope and organization of the document. • Chapter Two—Literature Review. The findings from the literature are summarized and presented in this chapter. Relevant topics covered in the literature review include training development efforts in specific technical content areas, training programs that support employee advancement and pay increases, and training development and delivery partnerships. • Chapter Three—State of the Practice. The results of the survey of state practice are presented in this chapter by topic area. The topic areas include the following: – Survey content, – General training program overview, – Training content and delivery,

6 SYNTHESIS SCOPE AND APPROACH The synthesis addresses all aspects of training and certifica- tion programs for front-line maintenance workers and pres- ents current practices in the following areas: • Subject areas of training; • Training delivery mode (e.g., instructor-led training and web-based training); • Source of training [e.g., in-house, consultant, and local technical assistance programs (LTAPs)]; • Methods of determining training effectiveness; • Value of training to organization and employee; • Inducements to participate in training (e.g., mandatory and nonmandatory); • Regularity of training (e.g., single event and recur- ring); and • Training that leads to certification. The information contained in this synthesis was obtained using three different sources. First, a literature review was con- ducted to provide background information about the state of maintenance training and certification practice. Second, a sur- vey was distributed to each of the voting members of the AAS- HTO SCOM and the 13 Canadian MOTs asking for information about their training and certification practices. Forty-one state DOTs (82%) and six MOTs (46% of the 10 provinces and three territories) responded to the survey. Finally, follow-up phone interviews with representatives from eight DOTs, the Clear Roads research program, TC3, and UGPTI were conducted to expand on the following three aspects of their programs: • Delivery methods: what methods of delivery are being utilized and why? • Training and resource sharing opportunities: what partnerships and resources have been established to extend limited maintenance training resources and how do they operate? • Training and performance: how well are training efforts aligned with performance expectations for maintenance workers? The eight highway transportation agencies were selected to participate in the interviews because they expressed will- ingness to provide additional information and demonstrated noteworthy maintenance training and certification practices. A range of approaches were represented in the case exam- ples, including the following: • The utilization of multiple delivery methods (e.g., online, mobile, and video) to provide training; • The utilization of partnerships to develop and deliver training; and • The existence of a well-structured or well-documented training program that aligns clearly with workforce development objectives and includes a learning man- agement system for tracking training accomplishments for each employee. In addition, interviews were conducted with represen- tatives from the Clear Roads research program, TC3, and UGPTI. (These organizations were listed by state respon- dents as training partners.) Each of these organizations works with highway transportation agencies to develop and deliver training, although their methods for iden- tifying needs, developing content, and delivering train- ing to the target audience varies. The differences in their approaches are explained in detail in the case examples, each offering a unique approach that could serve as a model to other agencies. TERMINOLOGY The following terms were defined in the survey: • Blended training—training that is delivered using two or more delivery methods (e.g., instructor-led training combined with on-the-job training). • Cross-training—to train an employee to be proficient at different, usually related, skills, tasks, jobs, and so forth. • Instructor-led training—training that is delivered in the classroom; an instructor is present to facilitate instruction. • Mobile training—training that is delivered through a mobile application by means of a cell phone or tablet; training is completed according to the participant’s pace and schedule. • On-the-job training—training that is delivered by an experienced employee; often includes demonstration lessons and opportunities for inexperienced employ- ees to practice new skills and receive feedback on performance. • Self-study, paper-based training—training material is provided either in hardcopy or electronically; training is completed independently according to the partici- pant’s pace and schedule. • Video conference training—training that is delivered through a video conferencing system; an instructor is present to facilitate instruction. • Web-based training—training that is delivered online through the Internet or intranet; training is completed independently according to the participant’s pace and schedule. • Web conference training—training that is deliv- ered through an online web conferencing system; an instructor is present to facilitate instruction.