Why is health and safety training so important?

All work-related activities will invariably expose employees to some form of hazard, these hazards could include: loads which have to be manually handled; dangerous machinery; toxic substances; electricity; noise, dust or vibration; working at height; Fire safety; work related driving activities or even psychological hazards such as stress.

Figures from the HSE show that, 137 people were killed while at work in the UK in 2016/17, in addition to this, 1.3 million workers have reported suffering from some form of work related ill health in the same period.

The figures also revealed that 526.000 workers in the UK suffered from work related stress, depression or anxiety and the statistics also highlighted that 642.000 incidents of violence towards employees were reported.

Every employee and every self-employed person is entitled to work in an environment where the risks within that workplace, have been accessed and are managed through the provision of suitable control measures. Under current health and safety legislation, the management of health & safety within the workplace lies directly with the employer.

Training can play a vital part in reducing the risk of a workplace accident. Providing effective health and safety training will help to ensure that the people who work for you, know how to work safely and without risk to themselves or to others.

A well-managed training programme will also help to develop a positive health and safety culture within the business as well as helping to ensure that the business meets with its legal duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of its employees.

Health and safety training can sometimes be over looked; however, a business must ensure that their managers, supervisors and all employees are provided with specific work-related training in relation to the companies’ health and safety policies and procedures.

Employees need to be provided with suitable training to enable them to work safely and to fully understand the companies’ health and safety policies, their risk assessments, their safe systems of work and the requirements of specific work-related training, they also need to understand how the policies are to be managed, and the role they will be expected to play within those policies.

All businesses have a legal duty to provide information, training and supervision to their employees to enable them work safely, not just for the employees working on the shop floor but also to directors, managers and those in other key roles.

Of course, any form of training will cost time and money, however, there are a significant number of benefits to be gained from an effective well-planned safety training programme, effective safety training will make a major contribution to the overall success of any business, by helping to reduce accidents and ill health within the workplace.

Health and safety training should not be viewed as a one-off exercise, it needs to be built into the ongoing management systems of a business. Providing good health & safety training should not be considered as a barrier to success, but as a means of developing a positive health and safety culture within a business.

Click here to read some frequently asked questions about health and safety.