The 6 fundamentals of health and safety training

So, what do I need to focus on first as an employer?

When it comes to health and safety training, there are 6 basic essential subjects that are required by law – you must implement the following:

• Induction
• Safety Awareness
• Fire Safety (including appointing Safety Wardens)
• Manual Handling
• First Aid
• Risk Assessment Training

Let’s look at each of those in turn.

Induction Training

Induction training is provided for all employees, contractors and any visitors to your place of work.  It is there to help them understand the hazards and risks of your working environment and the activities taking place there. It is the first question that will be asked when an accident is investigated, “Were they aware of the risks and what did you do to mitigate them? Some of the topics you should provide in induction training could be

• workplace orientation
• fire safety and emergency procedures
• first aid
• health and safety procedures
• accident reporting
• welfare facilities
• safe use of workplace tools, machinery, equipment
• risk assessments
• maintenance or storage of personal protective equipment

Health and safety training and law

Under health and safety law you need to take appropriate action to protect your employees. You have a legal duty to ensure your company complies with health and safety law. Here is a quick overview of the law and how it applies:

• The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to provide free of charge training, instruction and supervision necessary for all its employees. Those who have control over premises have to consider the safety of anyone who comes on the premises, including contractors and customers.
• The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.  The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 places a duty on employers to assess and manage risks to their employees and others arising from work activities. Employees must work safely in accordance with their training and the instructions given to them.
• The Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations 1977. The Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations 1977 and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 explained how employers consult their employees and their Trade Union Representatives on health and safety issues within the workplace. Visit our Consulting Employees pages for Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations.
• The Health and Safety (Training for Employment) Regulations 1990. The Health and Safety (Training for Employment) Regulations 1990 are regulations that provide guidance about who needs to be trained in the workplace, which includes all trainees, such as work apprentices, trainee doctors, nurses or work experience. All of these categories will be treated the same as any other employee under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Fire Safety

Your fire safety training should aim to ensure that all of your employees know how to prevent fires in the workplace and what actions to take in the event of a fire. More specifically, it should cover:

• The principles of fire
• Common causes of workplace fires
• How fires spread through buildings
• Fire prevention and protection, detection and warning
• Means of escape
• Extinguishing fires,
• Emergency arrangements
• Fire classifications
• Types of firefighting equipment
• What to do if you discover a fire
• What to do if you hear the alarm

Manual Handling

As an employer, you must protect your workers from the risk of injury from hazardous manual handling in the workplace. Manual handling means transporting or supporting a load by hand or bodily force. It includes lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving loads.

First Aid

As a minimum, a low-risk workplace such as a small office should have a first-aid box and a person appointed to take charge of first-aid arrangements, such as calling the emergency services if necessary. Employers must provide information about first-aid arrangements to their employees.

Workplaces that have more significant health, safety and environmental risks are likely to need trained first aiders.

As an employer, you are best placed to understand the exact nature of your workplace and decide what you need to provide.  However, the rule of thumb is that first aid provision must be ‘adequate and appropriate in the circumstances’. This means that you must provide sufficient first aid equipment (first aid kit), facilities and personnel at all times.

In order to decide what first aid provision you need, you should undertake a first-aid needs assessment. This assessment should consider the circumstances of your workplace, workforce and the hazards and risks that may be present. The findings will help you decide what first-aid arrangements you need to put in place.

In assessing your first-aid needs, you should consider:

• The nature of the work you do
• Workplace hazards and risks
• The nature and size of your workforce
• The work patterns of your staff
• The distribution of your workforce and visitors to your workplace

Risk Assessment