Health & Safety Training for Offices

There are over one million injuries at work every year in the UK and many of these are totally preventable. Preventing accidents and ill health caused by work can be greatly assisted by the use of effective Health & Safety Training.

Training - The Definition

This can usually fall into three categories:

Helping people to learn how to do something
Informing people of what they should or should not do
The provision of information

The challenge set for most trainers within an office environment is that they will more often than not have to attempt to get the health & safety message across on a minimal budget. Formal training can be very expensive but often the right message can be provided through the effective use of high quality and cost effective materials such as videos, booklets and posters. You should consider planning at least some of your health & safety training regimes around these tools.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

Applicable to offices and a wide range of other businesses. The regulations require all employers to provide information, instruction, training, and supervision so that their employees work in healthy safe conditions.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

This states that health and safety training is particularly important…

when people start work (induction training)
on exposure to new or increased risks
where existing skills may need refreshing or updating

The Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996

Requires employers to consult their employees, or their representatives, on health and safety issues. Representatives appointed under either of these sets of regulations are entitled to time off with pay for training in their duties.

There are also a number of other regulations which include specific health and safety training requirements e.g. first aid, manual handling etc.

What type of training is needed?

Managers and Supervisors

Need the same training as employees but they will also need to understand how they are expected to deliver on set health & safety criteria.

Employees

Need to understand:

The basics of health & safety before they start work (e.g. arrangements for first aid, fire and evacuation etc) see office safety awareness booklets
How to work safely (see next section)
The health and safety policy, how it works and the role they play
The line of communication they can use to raise health and safety concerns with the employer
Any new health & safety information if they change jobs or take on extra responsibilities
A reminder of the above through refresher training if a top up of skills are needed see Office Safety The Facts – video package

Young employees can be vulnerable to accidents and may need particular attention paid to their needs. Whilst induction training should cover this area it is advised that they are also supervised for a period of time.

Identifying the skills and knowledge required to work safely

Assess current skills and knowledge and identify the gaps
Review the accident book and identify any training needs arising out of incidences
Consult employees for their views
Assess and address corporate/board level training needs
Risk assessments should identify any further specific training needs

Training should be prioritized where it is a legal requirement and to those activities that pose the greatest risk.

Assessing the effect of the health and safety training

When there is an established training regime you may want to periodically check whether the training has worked. If there are a significant amount of negative responses to these 'markers' you will need to change your method or style of training.

Did your employees understand what they need to do? This can be established if you provide some sort of test immediately after the training
Are they actually working safely in all aspect of their job as they have been trained? Has there been a change in behaviour and practice? To evaluate this you may need to carry out periodical audits; this usually involves walking around the office observing what is happening
Has there been any improvement in your organisation's health and safety performance? Check the accident book and the total number of days off work as an indicator
Trainee feedback – ask for honest responses, if these are to be written encourage the use of anonymous feedback forms

Also always consider ways in which the training could be improved and simplified.

The Benefits of Health & Safety Training

Allows employees to perform their work safely and free from risk of injury form the actions of other employees
Provides for a positive health and safety culture within everyday working life
Provides employees with the knowledge to manage health and safety effectively
Provides legal compliance with the requirement to protect the health and safety of your employees
Helps your business avoid the human and financial costs of accidents and ill health caused at work

Further information

Health & Safety Executive leaflets on managing health & safety:

Health and safety training (PDF)
Managing health and safety: Five steps to success (PDF)
Consulting Employees on Health and Safety (PDF)

You may also be able to get a government-assisted loan to help meet some of the costs of training if you have no more than 50 employees. Contact your local Business Link (England), Business Shop (Scotland) or Business Connect (Wales).

Publications

Disclaimer: Business Health & Safety UK have provided this advice on the basis that the content and advice contained within these documents is to the best of our knowledge accurate at the time of publication. The Business Safety Company does not accept any liability for the accuracy of the information provided in the above and website pages.