Successful organizations are continually looking for ways to optimize the use of their assets and reduce losses. HDC has developed a series of courses and books that focus on critical thinking strategies that workers can use to maintain outstanding performance. The goals are for workers to work safetly, effectively, and efficiently and to focus their efforts in ways that contribute to improving employee, job, and corporate performance. The courses and books are based on the LO-PEMEO™ model HDC created. LO-PEMEO is a word that stands for Loss and Optimization of People, Equipment, Materials, Environment, and Organization.

A series of seven books on The Exemplary Worker will be published in the fall of 2010:

Book	Purpose
SafeThink™	to prevent illness and injury
WorkThink™	to achieve excellent results
EquipThink™	to achieve optimal results
MatThink™	to optimize materials
EnviroThink™	to protect the environment
JobThink™	to contribute to job and corporate performance
MetaThink™	for exemplary performance

These books are for:

• Individuals who want to have outstanding performance
• Supervisors who want staff to be more effective
• Trainers who want to contribute to improved corporate, job, and employee performance
• Trades and technology instructors who want their apprentices and students to work safely and effectively
• Instructional designers who want to ensure that training is relevant, useful, and practical
• HR managers who want to improve the development and retention of exemplary workers
• Operations managers who want to optimize production and minimize losses

In addition to the books, courses are being developed for each topic. The SafeThink™ course is currently being offered. SafeThink is a structured critical thinking strategy that workers and supervisors use to identify, predict, and control hazardous situations throughout the day. 90% of course participants say that they would feel much safer if their co-workers and peers used the strategy.

HDC has invested more than 4,500 hours in research and development of SafeThink. Industry has contributed more than 1,000 hours. To learn more about the SafeThink strategy and course, go to the SafeThink website at www.safethink.ca.

Below is a brief description about each of The Exemplary Worker books.

	SafeThink™ ...to prevent illness and injury SafeThink is a structured critical thinking strategy you can use to identify and predict hazardous situations before, during, and after completing work. This strategy can be used on the fly, at work, at home, at play, and while driving. SafeThink also provides strategies for you to remain focused on your tasks.
	Workthink™ ...to achieve excellent results WorkThink is a thinking strategy you can use to achieve quality results with the least amount of effort. It usually only takes little extra effort to do quality work instead of inferior work. WorkThink also emphasizes understanding the expectations of your supervisor, team leader, and customers so that you can achieve the excellent results they expect.
	EquipThink...to achieve optimal results EquipThink is a thinking strategy for you to use tools, mobile equipment, and stationery equipment effectively and efficiently. The goals are for you to achieve the desired results with minimal stress on equipment, to conserve energy, and to extend equipment life. The input-process-output thinking strategy, in conjunction with identifying critical variables, is used to achieve optimal results.
	MatThink™ ...to optimize materials MatThink is a thinking strategy you can use to make the most efficient use of materials. The thinking strategy applies to recovering, processing, modifying, applying, transporting, and storing materials. Because equipment and materials are usually closely related, the input-process-output thinking strategy, in conjunction with identifying critical variables, is used to optimize material recovery and use.
	EnviroThink™ ...to protect the environment Both industry and individuals have a responsibility to protect the environment. EnviroThink is a critical thinking strategy you can use to identify and respond to environmental issues for any job position that you might hold. EnviroThink helps you think through your work by asking yourself specific questions relating to environmental issues important to organizations.
	JobThink™ ...to contribute to job and corporate performance Exemplary workers understand what is important to their organizations. They know the issues critical to business success and where to focus their efforts. JobThink addresses the critical thinking strategies you can use to identify what is important for job and corporate performance.
	MetaThink™ ...for exemplary performance MetaThink applies some of the thinking strategies addressed in previous books in different ways and also addresses new thinking strategies useful for the workplace. You can use these thinking strategies, along with the detailed thinking strategies addressed in other books of this series, to achieve exemplary performance.