3. Sources of health and safety training
In house training
In house training will be carried out by a member of the organisation. For this reason, it is very cost effective as the organisation does not have to pay for an external professional or materials. The disadvantage of internal training is that time and quality could be limited.
For example, the employer might not have all the resources to train all of its employees on all aspects of their jobs without there being any downtime on production and productivity.
Also, the organisation could struggle to keep up to date with new information and to ensure that the training is of good quality.
This could lead to the provision of the bare minimum of training and instruction to comply with legislation.
Sometimes this may not be suitable or sufficient and could lead to accidents or incidents.
External training
External training will be provided by an external person to the organisation.
It has the benefit of being impartial and it could offer a new way of approaching your organisation, offering new ideas that you may not have already considered.
A specialist practitioner will have the specialist knowledge and they should be up to date with new information available.
There are some disadvantages to using an external practitioner.
- You may be required to send employees away from the workplace.
- Employees could be away from the workplace for a large number of days.
- Non-competent people could deliver the training.
There are numerous training providers available. It’s important that you use competent people to deliver training for you.
We provide face-to-face training for employees and for managers.
View our training events and courses
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is a UK charity that aims to prevent workplace accidents and injuries. It also provides RoSPA training courses.
The Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is the UK's professional body for health and safety practitioners. They provide IOSH training and skills courses.
Under the Occupational Health and Safety Register you can find practitioners or you could deliver training in a specialist topic.
Online training
Online training is an easy and simple way of providing basic training to employees. You can access our free online training courses below. This is our list of online training modules.
- Managing Health and Safety: The basics
- Health Risks at Work
- Mentally Healthy Workplaces
- Violence and Aggression in the Workplace
- Driving Risks at Work
- Sensible Risk Assessment
- Supporting Staff Attendance
- Improving Workplace Health
- Alcohol and Drugs in the Workplace.
You can complete our virtual learning modules for free. You can print a certificate of completion once you have successfully completed an online assessment.
View our online courses on our virtual learning website