Over 200 people are killed each year in the UK in accidents at work and over 1 million are injured. In addition over 2 million suffer illnesses caused by, or made worse by, their work.

Preventing accidents and ill health at work is a key priority for all businesses, to help do this it is vital that an organisation does everything practicable to ensure their employees, including management, are competent at what they do. Health and safety training is a vital part of this process as well as being a legal requirement. Unfortunately too many organisations do not necessarily look at the quality of the training provided and go for the ‘tick in the box’ approach.

There is a major difference between safety training and effective safety training. Lack of adequate training is not only wrong it can prove to be very dangerous, both for the person involved and the organisation!

Training means helping people to learn how to do something, telling people what they should or shouldn’t do or by simply providing suitable information- it is not just about formal classroom training.

Who needs health and safety training?

Directors often forget about themselves, however it is important that all directors receive some safety training, in addition training needs to be provided to managers, supervisors and all employees.

The best way to ensure adequate training is provided is to follow the HSE step by step guide:

• Step 1 – Decide what training your organisation needs – this can be based on your risk profile
• Step 2 – Decide your training priorities, again based on your risk profile
• Step 3 – Choose your training methods, classroom, on the job briefing, e-learning, etc. and identify who is appropriate to provide it
• Step 4 – Deliver the training
• Step 5 – Check that the training is effective and works

Ensure training records are maintained and that regular refresher training is provided to all staff.

Cardinus supply a number of health and safety training courses, from IOSH managing safely to many e-learning titles. Cardinus can also provide competent assistance to help identify training needs and priorities. Health and safety training is fundamental to good health and safety management and cannot be ignored or addressed lightly.

Contact Cardinus today on 0207 469 0200 or email [email protected].