NEWS
Companies Bear the Cost of Not Training
Written by Lynwood Consultancy Services
(20/05/2010)
Reading this article you will probably come to the conclusion that it is no more than an unashamed attempt to push safety training. Well, to some extent you wouldn’t be wrong but bear with me; it could save you some money.
It is barely news really. Most level headed people realise that if we do not give our employees all the information that they need to do a job properly they will probably fail, to some extent, in its execution. Despite this, some organisations are still expecting managers to know what their health and safety responsibilities are and expect employees to understand what they and the law expect of them.
Health and safety is common sense. A statement often made by people who believe that their employees should have an intuitive understanding of safety. You may think that this is reasonable but industry continues to provide evidence to oppose this point of view.
In April 2010 a company in Salford was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay over £7,000 in costs following a fatality caused through a vehicle accident in the workplace. The company had no Safe System of Work and they had failed to provide the necessary information, instruction, training and supervision. How much training can you buy for over £80,000?
In the same month a care home in Manchester was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay over £3,000 in costs for failing to comply with a HSE improvement notice. If managers had been trained they would have known better.
It has been demonstrated time and time again that companies with a positive safety culture tend to be more successful in their other endeavours. Maybe it is because their safety culture reflects their work culture in general. You could say that it is due to their application of common sense perhaps.
Saving money is not the only benefit that they realise from their safety efforts. They also avoid the personal loss and pain caused by accidents at work. I bet the owner of the company in Manchester, who in March 2010 was fined £20,000 over the death of his best friend, would now agree with me.
If you expect your managers to know how to manage health and safety in your workplace take a look at the IOSH Managing Safely course. It is widely recognised as being the best health and safety training for managers.
There are a number of employee safety training courses available, some cover a number of safety issues and others are quite task specific. The CIEH Level 2 Health and Safety in the Workplace is an excellent solution and the IOSH Working Safely would provide a suitable alternative, particularly if you are training your management on the IOSH course too.
Task specific training courses provide for a wide range of needs. All organisations need someone trained to one level or another in First Aid, whether that is the full First Aid at Work Course or Emergency First Aid at Work. Anyone who might be expected to come across asbestos during their normal work activities or are expected to undertake non-licensed asbestos work should undergo Asbestos Awareness training. Most people at work are expected to carryout Manual Handling and they should be trained so that they understand the risks and are able to plan their Manual Handling activities.
If you did come to the conclusion that I am promoting safety training you are right but even if you don’t choose Lynwood for your training do me a favour, do yourself a favour but most of all do you employees a favour – give them the training that they need.
