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 isn’t just about formal ‘classroom’ courses.
Why provide health and safety training?
Providing health and safety information and training helps you to: ensure that people who work for you know how to work safely and without risks to health; develop a positive health and safety culture, where safe and healthy working becomes second nature to everyone; 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, such as damaged products, lost production and demotivated staff. Don’t forget that your insurance might not cover all these costs. For information on business insurance.
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. 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 possible, you should appoint
ty 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. For more details on this see:
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 that 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 need, therefore, to take appropriate action to protect them.
For further guidance on working with contractors and self-employed people, 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.
Who needs health and safety training? You do!
Whether you are an employer or self-employed, are you sure that you’re 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 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, 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.
