Risk Identification for Logistics Management Field Training

As a highly practical discipline, logistics management places significant emphasis on practical teaching in talent cultivation. This necessitates comprehensive reforms in curriculum content, teaching models, and faculty teams to nurture professionals aligned with industry demands. Field training serves as the core link connecting theoretical instruction with industry practice in the logistics talent development system, constituting a pivotal component for achieving the goal of cultivating “application-oriented and interdisciplinary logistics professionals.” Its central role manifests across multiple dimensions, including talent development objectives, competency formation, and pedagogical innovation. The paper employs literature research and field investigation methods to analyze risk identification, assessment, and mitigation in field training, ultimately proposing preventive measures.

• Logistics Management Major
• Field Training
• Risk Identification
• Risk Response

1. Introduction

The outbound training of logistics management major is a key link between theoretical teaching and industry practice. Its scenarios involve complex work sites such as enterprise warehouses, transportation hubs, sorting centers, etc. ([1]). The participating parties include schools, training enterprises, and students, and there are multidimensional risks such as personnel safety, property safety, teaching quality, and compliance. Identifying, assessing, and controlling these risks are the core work to ensure the effectiveness of practical training and safeguard the rights and interests of all parties.

2. Risk Classification of Logistics Management Professional Training

Based on the entire training process (preparation before training, execution during training, and summary after training) and the participating entities, risks can be categorized into the following four major types:

2.1. Personnel Safety Risks

This is the most core risk type in field training, which permeates the entire process. Traffic safety risks: During commuting between school and the training enterprise, traffic accidents may occur due to vehicle malfunctions, improper driver operations, or poor road conditions. Internal transfers within the enterprise during training (such as forklift and truck transfers) may also cause personal collisions and crushing injuries ([2]). Operational safety risks: Logistics enterprises have numerous heavy equipment (forklifts, conveyors, stackers), automated systems (AGV robots, sorting lines), and students may misoperate equipment, get pinched by equipment, or be injured by falling objects due to their unfamiliarity with operations and weak safety awareness. Some positions involve loading, unloading, and handling, which can easily lead to occupational injuries such as muscle strain and joint injuries. Health and sudden illness risks: The complex environment of the training site (such as large temperature differences in warehouses, high dust levels, and strong noise) may induce respiratory diseases and allergic reactions in students. Students’ own underlying illnesses (such as heart disease and asthma) may flare up during high-intensity operations, and there is a lack of medical resources on site.

2.2. Property and Compliance Risks

This type of risk involves the property rights and legal compliance of schools, enterprises, and students. Property loss risk: Students may damage enterprise equipment and goods due to operational errors (such as scratching goods packaging, damaging shelves, or mistakenly sending or receiving goods) ([3]) causing economic losses to the enterprise; personal belongings of students (such as mobile phones and computers) may be lost in densely populated training venues. Compliance risk: Some logistics enterprises involve special categories such as customs-regulated goods, cold chain food, and hazardous chemicals. If students illegally touch or operate these items, they may violate laws and regulations such as the “Production Safety Law” and “Cold Chain Logistics Operation Standards”; there are also compliance loopholes if schools fail to purchase training insurance for students as required, or if enterprises fail to provide pre-job safety training to students.

2.3. Teaching Quality and Management Risk

Such risks directly affect the achievement of the teaching objectives of practical training. Risk of practical training content being out of touch: In pursuit of economic benefits, enterprises may arrange students to engage in repetitive manual labor such as sorting and loading/unloading, which is out of touch with the core skills of logistics management (such as warehouse planning, supply chain optimization, and logistics system operation and maintenance), leading to the “formalization” of practical training. Risk of management being out of control: During practical training, students are dispersed across different positions in the enterprise, and the number of school-led teachers is insufficient, with a large management radius, making it difficult to monitor students’ attendance and practical training status in real time. Due to their busy work, enterprise mentors may provide superficial guidance to students, leading to a “laissez-faire” ([5]) approach to practical Risk of information leakage in internship enterprises: Logistics enterprises are involved in commercial secrets such as customer information, order data, and operational plans. If interns are arranged to perform computer business operations, they will basically have access to internal and customer information of the enterprise. If interns, in order to show the authenticity of their internship or show off to others that they have internship experience in some well-known enterprises, illegally take photos or disseminate sensitive information of the enterprise, these actions without subjective malice may cause the leakage of business secrets of the enterprise ([6]).

2.4. External Environmental Risks

Induced by uncontrollable external factors, it is characterized by suddenness and uncertainty. Natural disaster risks: Extreme weather conditions such as typhoons, rainstorms, and heavy snowfalls may lead to disruptions in commuting and the shutdown of training venues, and even trigger secondary disasters such as floods and collapses. Industry fluctuation risks: The logistics industry is significantly influenced by market demand and policy regulations. For instance, during peak express delivery seasons, enterprises may operate beyond their capacity, potentially increasing students’ homework intensity and safety risks; if an enterprise encounters an unexpected business crisis (such as work stoppages or layoffs), it may lead to the interruption of practical training.

3. Risk Assessment of Field Training for Logistics Management Majors

Risk assessment involves quantifying or qualitatively analyzing identified risks, determining risk priorities, and providing a basis for control measures. It can be conducted using the risk matrix method in conjunction with the actual situation of practical training. Through a questionnaire survey of 120 individuals (100 students and 20 full-time teachers and enterprise mentors) from three groups: students who have participated in practical training, relevant teachers in logistics majors, and enterprise mentors cooperating with the practical training unit, 116 questionnaires were collected. Data collection and processing were carried out regarding the probability and impact degree of risks occurring during external internships. The final assessment dimensions for risk occurrence probability are divided into three levels: high, medium, and low. The probability of students operating forklifts in violation of regulations, resulting in collisions (mainly referring to collisions with empty pallets during practice operations) is high. The probability of accidentally colliding with other vehicles or personnel during operations is medium. The probability of “major traffic accidents occurring during commuting” during operations is low. The impact degree of risks is divided into three levels: severe, significant, and general. The impact degree of “serious injury or death of personnel” is severe, the impact degree of students colliding with machinery equipment is significant, and the impact degree of “students losing personal belongings” is general. Risk priorities are divided into high-priority risks: risks with high occurrence probability and severe impact degree, such as equipment operation safety risks and traffic safety risks, which require priority in developing control measures. Medium-priority risks: risks with medium occurrence probability and significant impact degree, such as risks of practical training content being out of touch and risks of commercial secrets being leaked, which require regular control measures. Low-priority risks: risks with low occurrence probability and general impact degree, such as minor property losses of students, which can be handled through emergency response plans without requiring excessive control resources.

4. Risk Management and Control Strategies for Field Training in Logistics Management Major

Risk management and control should adhere to the principle of “prioritizing prevention, integrating prevention and control, and fostering multi-party collaboration”, encompassing the entire practical training process, and clarifying the responsibilities of schools, enterprises, and students.

4.1. Before Practical Training

Risk prevention, laying a solid foundation: Schools collaborate with enterprises to enhance practical training programs. Schools sign formal practical training agreements with enterprises, clarifying the rights and obligations of both parties, and agreeing on practical training content, job arrangements, and division of safety responsibilities. They jointly develop practical training syllabuses to ensure that practical training content aligns with professional courses, avoiding the tendency to “emphasize physical labor and neglect skills”. Pre-training to strengthen safety awareness: Conduct special pre-training before practical training, including enterprise safety regulations, equipment operation specifications, business confidentiality protection requirements, and emergency response procedures. Organize safety knowledge assessments, and those who fail the assessment are not allowed to participate in practical training ([7]). Compliance assurance and implementation of safety measures: Schools purchase accident insurance and liability insurance for all students participating in practical training. Enterprises conduct safety hazard investigations for practical training positions, install additional equipment protective devices, set up safety warning signs, and provide students with necessary labor protective equipment (safety helmets, anti-slip shoes, gloves, etc.). Accurate investigation to avoid health risks: Collect students’ health information in advance, assess students with special diseases, and reasonably adjust practical training positions. Prepare commonly used drugs and first-aid equipment, and clarify the emergency contact information of nearby medical institutions.

4.2. During Practical Training

Implement dynamic control and real-time supervision to establish a robust management mechanism and fulfill the responsibilities of all three parties. Establish a dual-responsibility system of “school team-leading teachers + enterprise mentors”, with team-leading teachers stationed on-site throughout the entire process to grasp students’ practical training status in real time; enterprise mentors are responsible for job skill guidance and on-site safety supervision; students sign a practical training safety commitment letter to fulfill their own safety responsibilities. Strengthen process supervision to ensure the quality of practical training: adopt the method of “clock-in sign-in + job log + regular reporting” ([4]) to supervise students’ attendance and practical training progress; regularly hold school-enterprise practical training communication meetings to promptly address issues such as disconnection of practical training content and insufficient guidance; strictly prohibit students from accessing sensitive information of enterprises, and seriously handle violations. Respond dynamically to risks and initiate emergency response: in response to emergencies such as extreme weather and equipment malfunctions, initiate emergency plans, such as suspending practical training, evacuating students, and contacting medical rescue; establish a practical training risk ledger to record the occurrence of risks, the handling process, and corrective measures.

4.3. After Practical Training

Review and summarize, continuously improve and carry out risk reviews. After the training, organize a summary meeting among schools, enterprises, and students to sort out the risk events that occurred during the training process, analyze the causes, and evaluate the effectiveness of control measures. Optimize the training system: Based on the review results, adjust the training program, training content, and management mechanism, such as increasing the training hours for operating automated equipment and expanding the number of leading teachers; conduct qualification assessments of training enterprises, and eliminate cooperative enterprises with many safety hazards and weak guidance abilities. Improve the assessment mechanism: Incorporate risk prevention and control performance into student training assessments, commend students who comply with safety regulations and have excellent training performance; criticize, educate, and deduct assessment points for students who operate in violation of regulations and cause risk hazards.

5. Conclusion

Risk management for field training in logistics management is a systematic task, with the core lying in balancing the “practicality” and “safety” of the training. Only through precise risk identification, scientific risk assessment, and multi-party collaborative risk control can we effectively reduce training risks, ensure the achievement of training teaching objectives, and cultivate high-quality logistics management talents that meet industry needs. The article provides a detailed discussion on risk identification, but the subjects selected for data statistics are limited to vocational colleges and institutions with strong practical operability. Students from a wider range have not been involved in the questionnaire survey, so the adaptability of the research findings needs further promotion and improvement. Additionally, further research is needed to provide more accurate statistical data to support certain conclusions.

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