A study assessed the validity of the hypothesis that offshore drilling personnel would independently study important material if they knew that they would eventually receive formal training on the topic covered in the material. Eighty-one crew members on an offshore drilling rig were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Those in the experimental group were given safety training manuals when assigned to the rig and were informed that they would eventually receive safety training. The members of the control group were not given copies of the manual that would eventually be used in the training. After a two-month waiting period, both groups were given safety training. Data from a training program pretest indicated that there were no significant differences in the mean ages or grade levels of the members of each group. There was, however, a significant difference in the mean pretest scores of the two groups. The control group mean score was 23.30952, whereas that of the experimental group was 30.5, which indicated that the practice of providing training manuals before providing scheduled training programs has measurable benefits and should thus be adopted. (MN)