A workforce that outpaced the training.
Trane Technologies operates across manufacturing floors, rooftop installations, and field service environments where hazards are real, varied, and often invisible to the untrained eye. Their safety team identified a widening gap: new hires were entering complex industrial environments with little to no industrial background — and existing LMS training wasn't bridging it.
The team was tracking completion rates, but not comprehension. Workers were clicking through modules and hitting submit. The training checked the compliance box. It wasn't building the reflexes that matter when someone is on a rooftop with multiple active energy sources and no supervisor in sight.
"A lot of the new folks don't have any kind of industrial background. Very basic understanding of what it looks like in an industrial environment — what risks exist, even use of basic tools. We've got to teach them all that."
Three specific challenges emerged from discovery conversations:
Workers arriving without prior exposure to HVAC systems, mechanical rooms, or rooftop hazards. Basic tool use, energy source identification, and risk recognition all had to be built from scratch.
HVAC units carry electrical, hydraulic, UV, pressure, and mechanical energy — often simultaneously. Workers were locking out one source and missing others. A UV lamp fed from a secondary circuit. An air damper that could move unexpectedly.
Teams spanning English, French Canadian, and Castilian Spanish speakers. Existing training was English-only. The language gap created both a compliance risk and a direct safety risk on the floor.
"We're pretty immature — we're just tracking completion right now." Scores existed but weren't surfaced upstream. No way to see where workers struggled, which scenarios were missed, or where retraining was actually needed.
Two modules. Three languages. Built for their environment.
We designed two immersive training modules specifically for Trane's rooftop and mechanical room environments — customized to their actual equipment, their PPE standards (climbing-style helmets, Trane uniforms), and their specific hazard profile.
Every visual, every scenario, every voiceover was built to reflect what a Trane technician actually encounters on the job — not a generic warehouse or a stock photo facility.
An onboarding-focused micro-learning module designed for workers with no prior industrial experience. Covers why safety matters, how hazard awareness connects to business outcomes, and introduces the scanning behaviors that the second module reinforces. Completable in under 3 minutes. Mobile-first.
A scenario-based simulation module where workers navigate six real-world hazard situations in first-person: forklift intersections, multi-source LOTO, slips and cords, ergonomic lifting, and mechanical room scanning. Workers make decisions in real time. Wrong answers trigger constructive feedback. The system logs which hazards were missed.
Six scenarios. Built from real Trane hazards.
Each scenario was drawn directly from the hazards Trane's EHS team identified — real situations that had caused incidents or near-misses, built into interactive decision moments.
Worker approaches an active forklift lane. Do you cross or wait? Wrong choice triggers immediate feedback on right-of-way and visual scanning habits.
Rooftop HVAC unit with electrical, UV lamp, and air damper all active. Workers must identify and click every energy source before proceeding — building the scanning habit, not just the rule.
A spill and a cord block the path. Which do you address first? Reinforces hazard sequencing and the concept of line-of-fire positioning.
Unlabeled box on the floor. Do you lift solo or test the weight first? Directly addresses the "evaluate before you lift" muscle memory Trane needed to build.
Workers enter a darker mechanical room and must identify exposed belts, steam valves, and unsecured tools through both visual and auditory scanning — just like the real environment.
Worker spots a teammate not wearing safety glasses. What do you do? Reinforces peer accountability and safety culture, not just individual compliance.
"I love that it showed the rooftop. I love that it showed a belt — that's been some of our recent injuries. I noticed the instructor had a Trane vest. It made it feel really personalized."
Three languages. Fully localized — not just translated.
Each version of the module was fully localized — meaning the visuals, voiceovers, on-screen text, and cultural framing were all adapted for each language group. Not a voiceover swapped onto English footage. The people look different. The environment feels native.
"What I really like about that is it's not just a voiceover in Spanish — it's actually changed all the videos and the cards and the feed."
What happened when real teams ran it.
The pilot deployed to a cross-functional group spanning new hires and experienced technicians across manufacturing and field service. Here's what the data showed.
Beyond the metrics, the feedback from Trane's EHS team pointed to something harder to quantify: workers felt like the training was actually for them. The rooftop looked like their rooftop. The belt hazard matched what had actually caused injuries. The Trane vest was in the video.
That specificity is what drives retention. Generic training tells people the rules. Immersive, environment-specific training builds the reflexes.
"My thing with safety training is making it memorable — impactful for employees. We don't want click-the-box and be done with it. We want them to grasp what they're seeing, retain it."
From pilot to program.
Trane is currently evaluating a full course library expansion — 10 to 15 modules covering LOTO, ergonomics, forklift safety, emergency response, and more — timed to their Workday Learning go-live. All modules will be built to the same standard: custom to their environment, localized for their teams, and deployable the moment IT gives the green light.
In the interim, all modules are staged as finalized SCORM 1.2 zip files in a secure private repository, ready to upload with zero rebuild time when the transition completes.
Trane didn't need more training content. They needed training that reflected their actual environment. The specificity — their rooftop, their belt hazard, their Trane vest — is what made it stick.
- Hazard awareness across multiple energy sources
- New hire readiness without industrial background
- Multilingual delivery — not just translation
- Comprehension data, not just completion
- SCORM 1.2 for Workday Learning transition
- Rooftop and mechanical room environments
- Climbing-style helmets (not standard hard hats)
- Trane uniforms and vest in all visuals
- HVAC-specific multi-energy source scenarios
- UV lamp secondary power source scenario
- Scenarios drawn from actual recent injuries
- SCORM 1.2 (Workday Learning compatible)
- Mobile-first, landscape-ready
- LMS-agnostic — works with CSOD, Workday, others
- Secure private repository during transition
- Raw source files provided for ongoing edits