The importance of getting staff to actually complete their training

Investing in workplace Health & Safety and HR Compliance training is the first of many important steps when it comes to keeping your staff safe and working towards compliance with legislation. Arguably, however, it isn’t the most important step. Whilst it can sometimes be a challenge to get your staff to complete their training (read more about how you can motivate your staff to complete their training), it’s absolutely crucial that you do. Otherwise, you’re leaving yourself and your staff open to accidents and the potentially huge fines that come with them. 

The story of a chef in a rather well-known restaurant chain… 

One of our Account Managers here at iHASCO was recently made aware of an incident at a well-known restaurant chain in the UK. 

The chain had employed a new Head Chef for one of their many restaurants and was provided with all of the necessary Health & Safety training. The Head Chef ended up not completing any of it due to a lack of time and resistance. 

This Chef then slipped on a pool of oil that had been spilled on the floor by another member of staff and successfully sued the burger chain, receiving £40,000 pounds in the process. 

Now, you might be thinking that regardless of the Chef doing his training or not, this accident would have still happened. Whilst that may be true, if the chain had proof of the Chef completing all of his training, along with their risk assessments and other precautions, the Chef would have been less likely to be successful in his liability claim, as the chain would have been deemed to have done what is reasonably practicable to prevent the accident from happening. 

The chain also should not have allowed the Chef to enter the kitchen without completing the appropriate training. 

So what can you take away from the above story? 

Apart from the obvious, that it’s crucially important staff complete all of their Health & Safety training, there are some other key takeaways, including: 

• Training has to be concise and to the point. It shouldn’t take hours out of an employees working day. 
• If training is genuinely enjoyable and engaging, there will be less resistance to completing it.
• Training completion should be checked very frequently and there should be consequences in place for those who refuse to complete their training. A Learning Management System is the easiest way of keeping tabs on staff training. 
• It is not the responsibility of the employee to complete their training, the organisation must take responsibility and ensure everyone has completed their training. 

And as always, choose iHASCO for time-effective, cost-efficient and engaging workplace training… 

Looking for cost-effective, time-efficient and engaging workplace training for your staff? You’re in the right place. We’ve helped over 7,000 UK organisations keep their staff safe at work, whilst working towards compliance with current legislation. See how we could help you with a free trial of our courses today…