The Importance of Health & Safety Training

‘Training’ means helping people to learn how to do something, telling people what they should or should not do, or simply giving them information. Providing Health and Safety information and training helps you and your business to ensure that you and people who work for you know how to work safely and without risks to your health. It helps to develop a positive Health and Safety culture and helps you meet your legal duty to protect the Health and Safety of your employees.

Effective training will contribute towards making your employees competent in Health and Safety and help your business avoid the distress that accidents and ill health cause. It can help you avoid the financial costs of accidents and occupational ill health, such as damaged products, lost production and demotivated staff. For some, their insurances may not cover all their costs.

The law that is The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 requires you to provide whatever information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of your employees. This is expanded by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, which identify situations where Health and Safety training is particularly important, eg when people start work, on exposure to new or increased risks and where existing skills may have become rusty or need updating. Like many employers, you may not be in a position to provide this training on your own, in which case you will need the competent assistance of qualified advisors and approved training companies. The Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 require you to consult your employees, or their representatives, on Health and Safety issues. Representatives appointed under either of these sets of regulations are entitled to time off with pay for training in their duties. There are a number of other regulations that include specific Health and Safety training requirements, eg Fire Warden and First Aid training. If a person working under your control and direction is self-employed, they may nevertheless be treated as your employee for Health and Safety purposes. You need, therefore, to take appropriate action to protect them. Ultimately, each case can only be decided on its own merits by a court of law. Whether you are an employer or self-employed, you should be up to date with how to identify the hazards and control the risks from your work. If you employ managers or supervisors, they need to know what you expect from them in terms of health and safety, and how you expect them to deliver. They need to understand your Health and Safety policy, where they fit in, and how you want Health and Safety managed.

They may also need training in the specific hazards of your processes and how you expect the risks to be controlled. Everyone who works for you, including self-employed people, needs to know how to work safely and without risks to health. Like your supervisors, they need to know about your Health and Safety policy, your arrangements for implementing it, and the part they play. They also need to know how they can raise any Health and Safety concerns with you. You are required to take into account the capabilities, training, knowledge and experience of workers and ensure that the demands of the job do not exceed their ability to carry out their work without risk to themselves and others. Some employees may have particular training needs. New recruits need basic ‘induction training’ into how to work safely, including arrangements for first aid, fire and evacuation. People changing jobs or taking on extra responsibilities need to know about any new Health and Safety implications. Young employees are particularly vulnerable to accidents and you need to pay particular attention to their needs, so their training should be a priority. It is also important that new, inexperienced or young employees are adequately supervised. Employee representatives or safety representatives will require training that reflects their responsibilities. Some people’s skills may need updating by refresher training. Your risk assessment should identify any further training needs associated with specific risks. Firstly, you should show your commitment so the people being trained recognise that the training is important. You should consult your employees or their representatives on the planning and organisation of the training. You should make sure that you properly prioritise and plan the training needs for your business.

We recommend following HSE’s five-step approach:

STEP 1 Decide what training your organisation needs:

• Identify the skills and knowledge needed for people to do their job in a safe and healthy way.
• Compare these against people’s current skills and knowledge and identify the gaps.
• Review your experience of injuries, near misses or cases of ill health.
• Look at your risk assessments to see where information and/or training have been identified as factors in controlling risks.
• Consider awareness training needs for everyone, including directors, managers and supervisors, including: how you manage health and safety; who is responsible for what; the cost to the business if things go wrong; how to identify hazards and evaluate risks; and the hazards encountered and measures for controlling them.

STEP 2 Decide your training priorities

• Does the law require you to carry out specific training (eg first-aid training)?
• Priorities should include: those where lack of information and/or training might result in serious harm; those that benefit the largest numbers of staff; new recruits or those new to the working environment; people changing jobs, working practices or taking on new responsibilities; people using new equipment. Consult employees or their representatives for their views. You must provide training during working hours and not at the expense of your employees. Special arrangements may be needed for part-timers or shift workers.

STEP 3 Choose your training methods and resources

• Choose your methods of training, for example: giving information or instruction; coaching or on-the-job training; training in the ‘classroom’; open and distance learning; in groups or individually; and computer-based or interactive learning. You should make sure that you meet the training needs of all of your workforce, including migrant workers who might not have good English, also people with poor literacy skills or those with disabilities, such as of sight or hearing.
• Consider who can help you by providing you with information, materials, training courses etc.

STEP 4 Deliver the training

• Make sure the information is easy to understand and try to use a variety of training methods to deliver your message.
• Make sure the trainer has enough time to prepare themselves, their resources and the venue.

STEP 5 Check that the training has worked

• Do your employees understand what you require of them?
• Do they now have the knowledge and skills needed to work safely and without risk to health?
• Are they actually working as they have been trained to?
• Has there been any improvement in your organisation’s health and safety performance?
• What feedback are you getting from line managers and the people who have been trained?
• Is further information and/or training needed?
• Was the most suitable training method used?
• What improvements can be made?
• Has there been a change in behaviour and practice?
• It can help you manage training if you keep records, even if it is in-house training.
• You should monitor training records so that refresher training can be given when needed.

Quality Systems Consultancy are ‘approved IOSH training providers’ and offer the following training courses to support your Health and Safety arrangements:

• IOSH Managing Safely Training
• IOSH Managing Safely Refresher Training
• IOSH Working Safely Training
• QNUK Level 2 and 3 Health & Safety in the Workplace
• QNUK Level 3 First Aid at Work
• QNUK Level 3 First Aid Refresher
• QNUK Emergency First Aid at Work
• QNUK Level 1 and 2 Mental Health Training
• Fire Safety Awareness Training
• Fire Marshal Training
• Manual Handling Training
• ISO 9001:2015, 14001:2015 and 45001:2015 Internal Audit Training

We only work with experienced, qualified, professional trainers with a background in training and supporting delegates throughout the understanding and learning process to enable them to achieve success.

We offer fully flexible courses to suit your business and staff availability with a choice of the following:

• Remote learning
• In-house training at your business premises
• Classroom training at our training centres in Staffordshire and Wolverhampton

If you would like more information about our training courses, call us on 01889 881887 or e-mail info@qscconsultancy.co.uk.