Remember, these people might not be familiar with your working environment and safety systems that you have put in place for regular employees. 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; 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.
How can I do it?
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. 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. 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. All employees working on site (such as but not limited to equipment operators, general laborers and others) exposed to hazardous substances, health hazards, or safety hazards and their supervisors and management responsible for the site shall receive training meeting the requirements of this paragraph before they are permitted to engage in hazardous waste operations that could expose them to hazardous substances, safety, or health hazards, and they shall receive review training as speci ed in this paragraph.
Employees shall not be permitted to participate in or supervise eld activities until they have been trained to a level required by their job function and responsibility. Elements to be covered. e training shall thoroughly cover the following: Names of personnel and alternates responsible for site safety and health; ii) Safety, health and other hazards present on the site; iii) Use of personal protective equipment; iv) Work practices by which the employee can minimize risks from hazards; v) Safe use of engineering controls and equipment on the site; vi) Medical surveillance requirements, including recognition of symptoms and signs which might indicate overexposure to hazards; and
Initial training.
(i) General site workers (such as equipment operators, general laborers and supervisory personnel) engaged in hazardous substance removal or other activities which expose or potentially expose workers to hazardous substances and health hazards shall receive a minimum of 40 hours of instruction o the site, and a minimum of three days actual eld experience under the direct supervision of a trained, experienced supervisor.
(ii) Workers on site only occasionally for a speci c limited task (such as, but not limited to, ground water monitoring, land surveying, or geophysical surveying) and who are unlikely to be exposed over permissible exposure limits and published exposure limits shall receive a minimum of 24 hours of instruction o the site, and the minimum of one day actual eld experience under the direct supervision of a trained, experienced supervisor. (iii) Workers regularly on site who work in areas which have been monitored and fully characterized indicating that exposures are under permissible exposure limits and published exposure limits where respirators are not necessary.
