Health & Safety Training
What you need to know
This page explains the importance of health and safety training
to owners and managers of businesses. It gives advice on who may
need training, what form the training may take and how to organise
it.
This page contains notes on good practice which are not
compulsory but which you may find helpful in considering what you
need to do.
Why is health and safety training important?
Over 200 people are killed each year in accidents at work and
over one million people are injured. Over two million suffer
illnesses caused by, or made worse by, their work.
Preventing accidents and ill health caused by work is a key
priority for everyone at work. As the owner or manager of a
business you know that competent employees are valuable.
Providing health and safety information and training helps you
to:
- ensure your employees are not injured or made ill by the work
they do
- develop a positive health and safety culture, where safe and
healthy working becomes second nature to everyone
- find out how you could manage health and safety better
- 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
- can help your business avoid the distress that accidents and
ill health cause
- can help you avoid the financial costs of accidents and
occupational ill health. Don’t forget that your insurance doesn’t
cover all these costs. Damaged products, lost production and
demotivated staff can all result.
The law requires that you provide whatever information,
instruction and training is needed to ensure, so far as is
reasonably practicable, the health and safety of your employees
(see ‘The Law’ for more details).
What is 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. Training is not just about formal 'classroom'
courses.
Who needs health and safety training?
You do! Whether you are an employer or self-employed, are you
sure that you are up to date with how to identify the hazards and
control the risks from your work? Do you know how to get help –
from your trade association, your local Chamber of Commerce, or
your Health and Safety Enforcing Authority? Do you know what you
have to do about consulting your employees, or their
representatives, on health and safety issues? If not, you would
probably benefit from some training.
Your managers and supervisors do! If you employ managers or
supervisors, they will certainly need some training. 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.
Your employees do! Everyone who works for you, including
self-employed people, need 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 should:
- 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, for
example:
- 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
- some people’s skills may need updating by refresher
training.
Your risk assessment should identify any further specific
training needs.
How can I do it?
Firstly, you should show your commitment so the people being
trained recognise that the training is important. Providing
training need not be a great burden, but you do need to think ahead
and prioritise . You may have appointed somebody to give you
'competent assistance' (see 'The Law') and they should be able to
help. Try the following 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.
- Consult employees or their representatives for their
views.
- Consider awareness training needs for 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)? (See ‘The Law’ for more details).
- Top priorities would include those where lack of information
and/or training might result in serious harm, and those which
benefit the largest numbers of staff.
- Consult employees or their representatives for their
views.
- Training for new recruits and for people changing jobs or
taking on new responsibilities should always be a priority.
STEP 3: Choose your training methods and
resources
Don’t forget that though there are many external trainers who
can help you, much effective training can be done ‘in house’.
Choose your methods, 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.
Consider who can help you, by providing information, materials,
training courses etc. You could try for example:
- Sector Skills Councils
- trade unions or trade associations
- further education colleges
- private training organisations
- independent health and safety consultants
- employer bodies (eg. Chambers of Commerce); and
- Look at www.businesslink.gov.uk and
click on ‘Employing people’ or call 0845 600 9006 to find detailed
information and advice on skills and training, including:
- the impact of training on business performance
- identifying training needs;
- training methods
- how to set up in-house training
- how to evaluate your training
- how to find a training provider or course; and
- learning through networking with others.
STEP 4: Deliver the training
- Ensure the information is easy to understand and try to use a
variety of training methods to deliver your message.
- Ensure the trainer has enough time to prepare themselves, their
resources and the venue – preparation is particularly important for
people who are not experienced trainers.
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?
- 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 is important to keep records of training, even in-house
training.
- You should monitor training records so that refresher training
can be given when needed.
The law
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.
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.
You need to assess the risks to your employees while they are at
work and to any other people who may be affected by the way you
conduct your business. This is so that you can identify the
measures you need to take to comply with health and safety law,
which includes training and the provision of information.
Like many employers, you may not be in a position to provide
this training on your own, in which case you will need competent
help. If at all possible, you should appoint one or more of your
employees. However, if there is no one with the relevant knowledge,
experience and skills in your organisation who can be relied on to
deal effectively with health and safety training, you need to
enlist someone who has from outside. In some circumstances you may
need a combination of internal and external help. Look at
www.businesslink.gov.uk. for detailed advice on choosing and
managing a health and safety consultant.
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. The Health and Safety (Training for Employment)
Regulations 1990 ensure that learners doing work experience are
covered by health and safety law.
There are a number of other regulations which include specific
health and safety training requirements, eg. asbestos, diving and
first aid.
What about self-employed people?
If a person working under your control and direction is treated
as self-employed for tax and national insurance purposes, they may
nevertheless be treated as your employee for health and safety
purposes. You may need therefore to take appropriate action to
protect them.
If you do not wish to employ workers on this basis, you should
seek legal advice. Ultimately each case can only be decided on its
own merits by a court of law.
How else can I help?
The HSE has produced some useful publications. A suitable
starting point is Effective Health and Safety Training: A
Trainer's Resource Pack (HSE Books 2001 ISBN 0 7176 2109 X).
This includes a series of practical activities that you can use to
help train your staff in:
- health and safety policies, culture and systems
- roles in health and safety
- assessing and controlling risks; and
- managing change and improvement.
Thinking of setting up or joining a Health and Safety Passport
training scheme? Read Passport schemes for health, safety and
the environment: A good practice guide Leaflet INDG381 HSE
Books 2003 (single copy free).
You can use HSE's most popular, easy-to-follow book
Essentials of Health and Safety at Work as a training
manual ISBN 0 7176 6179 2 HSE Books 2006.
Useful websites
Further information
HSE priced and free publications are available by mail order
from:
HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA
Tel: 01787 881165 Fax: 01787 313995
Website: www.hsebooks.co.uk (HSE priced
publications are also available from bookshops and free leaflets
can be downloaded from HSE’s website: www.hse.gov.uk.)
For information about health and safety ring HSE’s Infoline
Tel: 0845 345 0055
Fax: 0845 408 9566
Textphone: 0845 408 9577
email: hse.infoline@natbrit.com
or
write to HSE Information Services, Caerphilly Business Park,
Caerphilly CF83 3GG.
Contact Environmental Health
E-mail: envhealth@dover.gov.uk
