kangmi: learning korean

Workplace learning

Jennifer Salopek, in the October 2004 issue of T+D:

In February 2003, an arsonist set fire to a milk carton filled with gasoline aboard a subway train in Daegu, South Korea. More than 200 people were killed, and hundreds more were injured. In the aftermath, six subway officials were arrested and the head of the subway corporation was fired.

In January 2004, an arsonist kindled a blaze aboard a moving train while it passed through an undersea tunnel in Hong Kong. Subway operations personnel extinguished the fire in less than 10 minutes, and no lives were lost.

Those examples are a testimonial to commitment to staff training and the continuous learning environment at MTR Corporation Limited, the company that operates the privatized underground railway system in Hong Kong. Alongside its systematic approach to identify the root causes of accidents, incidents, and delays, the company establishes special task forces to study major incidents on other railways. The task forces conduct “read-across” exercises to identify preventive and avoidance measures to be instituted in MTR’s system. After Daegu, that task force identified 20 major actions to be taken, and training reinforcement was conducted by the learning unit.

No mention of what the Daegu subway corporation learned from the incident.

Posted by kangmi on October 13, 2004 at 2:00 PM0 comments