Do employers need to train staff on safe practices

Should employers have to educate staff in health and safety

The Health and Safety Executive in the UK recently recorded that more than 200 people every year are killed whilst undertaking their working duties. More than 2 million suffer illness, injury or disease which is a cause or aggravated by their working conditions. Preventing accidents and ill health at work is therefore a big priority for both employers and employees.

It is crucial that employers consider health and safety training for all staff without regard for the working environment. It will make no difference whether you working on a building site or even in an office, there can be hazards in every environment and we must recognise this.

Employers can protect themselves from criminal prosecution and from civil compensation claims by adopting an intelligent health and safety regime. Training is a large element of such a regime.

By providing the necessary training to employees, employers can make sure that their staff will not be confronted with injury or illness. You can create a positive health and safety culture where the entire workplace is mindful of the risks connected with their job. Training will contribute towards making the workers more informed and more aware of their surroundings.

It may well be that an employer is unaware of the extent that staff are confronted with dangers within the workplace. Equally, a business may well not fully grasp how to go about training their employees. It is highly recommended that businesses consult with either the Health and Safety Executive or private consultants who are able to advise them more fully about what they could do to abide by basic health and safety legislation.

Once you have identified what training your organisation needs, you need to then decide on the training priorities. Top priorities should include those areas of risk where a lack of information or lack of training might cause injury or harm being suffered by staff. If uncertain, consult employees or their representatives to take a take on exactly where the danger areas lie within the working environment. Once you've made a decision, select the best training method to get the content across to your team. This may involve one-to-one sessions or group sessions, which can be delivered either by knowledgeable members of staff or independent consultants. The biggest thing is to make sure that any trainer is sufficiently qualified to carry out the job.

Once training is delivered, it is important to record this and to then arrange for a refresher or update course following a certain length of time.

If you are self-employed but work with a team of individuals regularly who are within your instruction and control, then you should think about the position in the same way that any employer would do. If there are any employers who also handle self-employed subcontractors, they should consider treating the person as an employee when it comes to any health and safety training.