Contract Education at Chabot-Las Positas Community College District is providing a 6-week training program focused on critical thinking and problem solving to supervisors of a major Bay Area manufacturer. Entitled Getting to the ROOT of the Problem, the series of workshops is designed to provide an organized and well-defined approach to identifying root causes of breakdowns in the manufacturing process and developing optimal solutions.

In the current job market, employers are increasingly focused on finding employees who possess basic skills they believe are critical to job performance, such as applied math, reading comprehension and locating critical information. While employers continue to look for workers with skills related to specific job functions, they are also aware that basic math and reading skills are as important to job success as technical or job-related proficiency.

Many organizations are recognizing the benefits of WorkKeys' research-based skills assessments and the KeyTrain interactive learning system to support basic skills development. They have been used for more than two decades by job seekers, employees, employers, students, educators, administrators and workforce and economic developers. Major employers, including Tesoro and Dow Chemical, are not only implementing WorkKeys for recruiting and hiring, but also employing both WorkKeys and KeyTrain to improve the basic skills of their incumbent workforce.

Workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities not only cause immeasurable pain and suffering to employees and their families, but also cost organizations billions of dollars in wasteful and often preventable expenses. According to Liberty Mutual's latest edition of their Annual Workplace Safety Index, the most serious disabling workplace inju­ries and illnesses in 2011 (the most recent year for which data are available) totaled $55.4 billion in direct US workers' com­pensation costs alone.

The implementation of workplace safety and health management programs has been shown to significantly reduce the incidence of accidents, illness, injuries and fatalities by ensuring that hazards are eliminated or controlled in a systematic manner.