Developing a Health and Safety Training Plan

Remember, health and safety training is not just a nice to have, it is the law. The law requires that you provide whatever information, instruction and training is needed to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health & safety of your employees.

Reviewing your Health and Safety Training

First things first, audit the way that health and safety training is being managed currently and create an action list of improvements from there. Review the following:

• How is health and safety training recorded
• Who manages the health and safety training
• What training is being done
• In line with legislation, is everyone trained in what they need to be trained in
• Who is the current health and safety trainer
• Are employees overdue for training

Once you have got this information, you can move on and start developing a health and safety plan.

Developing your Health and Safety Plan

Depending on the size of your organisation, the whole area of training can be a time-consuming task.

You may want to consider using software to help you manage the admin side of things. Check to see if your company HR system allows for recording training or look into a specialised system for recording health and safety training. If neither of these options are possible for you, you will need to create a safety training matrix using excel.

If you are starting your training plan from scratch, then it is realistic to admit that you will need help with the administration. Make this part of the plan and hopefully, if the plan is managed correctly, this will only be a once off.

When developing your plan, the following needs to be considered:

Determine whether training is needed

The company must first ask themselves if training can solve the issue that they have. Training is most effective when it is trying to solve employee performance, but not very successful if it is trying to remedy an employee’s motivation or attitude. Identify the gaps.

Identify training needs

Examine the company health and safety records. Review any job hazard analysis and risk assessments. Request worker or supervisor opinions and suggestions to identify what training is needed and where improvements can be made. Always keep in mind legislation requirements.

Identify goals and objectives

Be clear on what the training is going to achieve. Develop evidence that it has been met.

Choose your training methods and resources

Good instruction that aims towards clear objectives should include mental and/or physical skills required to meet the needs of the employee. It is useful to include actions and situations that simulate actual conditions, this is a very effective way of training. Employees should be able to demonstrate that they have learnt the required skills through specific activities.

Deliver the training

Make sure the information is easy to understand and try to use a variety of training methods to deliver your message. Make sure the trainer has enough time to prepare themselves, their resources and the venue.

Evaluate program effectiveness

Determine whether the training has accomplished objectives for each training session. Use of student/trainee opinions and feedback, as well as supervisor observations and workplace improvements, are useful for this evaluation.

Improve the program

Review the training based on the evaluations from the previous step. If parts of the training can be improved, feed this back to the trainer.

Conclusion

Safety training is without a doubt, one of the most expensive parts of safety management, but it is also one of the most important. Investing in your employees through health and safety training is investing in your company. A safe employee is a happy employee, a happy employee is a better employee. Happy employees = great company!

Make your plan, break it down into priority training and stay on top of it.

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