Training Needs of Operation and Maintenance Personnel in Coal Fired Power Stations: Basis for Global Service Center Training Plan

It is the aim of this study to find out the training needs of the coal fired power plants’ operation and maintenance personnel and field engineers to come up with the Training Plan that will be used by Global Service Center. Specifically, it has the following objectives: to describe the demographic profile of operation and maintenance personnel at coal fired power station in Philippines in terms of age, gender, educational background, number of years of experience working in power plant station, number of years working in present division, job level, work division, training experience and preferred training period; to identify the courses preferred to take by the respondents; to identify the effective training method to be used; to determine the level of importance of training courses for each equipment; to test the differences of training method and training level of importance when grouped according to demographic profile; to seek suggestions on how training can be effectively conducted and to propose a training plan for coal-fired power plant operation and maintenance. The study utilized a questionnaire as its main instrument for data gathering. The answers in the retrieved questionnaires were tabulated and analyzed. The generated results revealed that the use of simulator is the most effective teaching method preferred by the power plant personnel and they are not so interested in virtual method and the training courses like basic technical knowledge, maintenance planning and procedure, failure analysis are considered very important courses that the power plant personnel should have. A proposed training plan was formulated that can be used as the basis in the conduct of training in Global Services Center.

Keywords –training needs, coal-fired power stations, training plan, operation and maintenance personnel