Why educating your staff in Health & Safety is a critical investment

Posted one year ago

The Importance of Health and Safety Training

Workplace Health & Safety is not only a case of just ticking the right boxes and ensuring your employees exercise the bare minimum in terms of safety precautions. It's all about defensively and proactively managing risks to promptly and preemptively protect individuals, including both employees and the general public.

Management Of Health & Safety At Work

Effective Health & Safety management starts and is characterised by strong leadership.

Business owners and persons responsible for Health & Safety are required by law to implement and practice several processes in order to protect anybody at risk from harm or injury in the workplace or whilst performing any work duties. Whether this is purchasing protective equipment or putting in place safety procedures such as signing up staff to occupational health.

One of the most integral parts of Health & Safety management is providing up-to-date and practical Health and Safety training. Sadly, this valuable resource can often be overlooked, which is a goliath and potentially costly mistake. Failing to provide proper Health and Safety Training to all staff to provide safe working conditions, could not only cost the company money and damage its reputation beyond repair, but it also demonstrates a clear disregard for proper Health and Safety laws. A lack of/no Health and Safety training can also affect people/employees' health and wellbeing, in extreme cases, it can also result in life-altering injuries or worse, the loss of someone's life.

Why Health & Safety should be the number one priority

There are several reasons why Health & Safety Training is essential, we've listed the primary considerations below:

Health and Safety policies within the workplace are a non-negotiable legal requirement. If you're not providing health and safety training to keep everyone safe, you are breaking the law, which will go on to have serious consequences.
Having robust and effective Health and Safety practices within your business makes your organisation run smoothly and improves efficiency. When employees are in optimum physical and mental health, it means fewer absences caused by illnesses and accidents, which saves valuable time, resources and minimises disruption.
Poor health & safety training speaks volumes about the ethics of a business. It will also likely result in difficulty hiring new recruits.

Did you know:

Evidence suggests that employees are more productive in workplaces committed to Health & Safety, this is because it shows that the higher-ups care about everyone within their business and that everyone is valued and respected.

Remember, your clients and customers want to buy products and services that are produced ethically. Consumers also want to ensure that staff are treated fairly and are not put into dangerous situations unnecessarily. This mindset and commitment to safety and quality should be at the forefront of all business owners, leaders and managers.

What should be covered in Health & Safety Training?

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HASAWA) 1974 requires the employer to provide whatever information, resources and equipment to ensure staff safety. This starts with proper health and safety training to establish these needs.
Other legislation, such as the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 explicitly require employers to offer specific health and safety training and proper resources and materials.
Choose health and safety training bespoke to your business needs. Each workplace will have different training requirements, so ultimately, employers must identify what areas their employees require. This should be done by conducting a thorough risk assessment of the workplace, as is required by law.

What does the HSE say?

The HSE doesn't specify the type of training employers must provide. As long as it's clear to understand, appropriate for the risks involved, and meets the needs of all of your staff, employers are free to choose a training provider that suits their requirements.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires you to provide whatever information, instruction and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of your employees".

The Management of Health and Safety expands this at Work Regulations 1999, identifying situations where health and safety training is critical. An example of this would be when people start work, on exposure to new or increased risks, and existing skills may have become rusty or need updating.

Protect your staff and your business with Online Health & Safety Training

So inevitably, employers cannot avoid providing their staff with health and safety training. However, they are entirely free to choose the health and safety training that suits them and the requirements of the roles.

Providing staff with Training should not be seen as an unnecessary expense or hassle. Nor should it be complicated or expensive. Our online Health & Safety courses offer a simple yet highly effective way of working towards compliance with legislation. Ultimately not only does this protect your staff, it protects your business and its interests.

Different Types Of Health And Safety Training Available

With iHASCO there is a plethora of health and safety courses available. From mandatory training to industry-specific courses. These are a few of the courses we have on offer:

Each course is CPD Accredited, with many containing additional approvals from the likes of IOSH, IIRSM, and RoSPA, and provide a printable certificate upon completion of the end-of-training test.

You can claim a free, no-obligation trial for any of our eLearning courses today! Alternatively, you can request a bespoke quote for your organisation, and a member of our team will be in touch shortly to discuss your training requirements.