For those in the training front line, it is easy to become cynical about the process. Retention of even simple information can sometimes be measured in days, and real changes in behaviour which are observable on the shop floor and reflected in accident figures and absenteeism can feel like isolated victories in an endless war of attrition. While it is easy to become cynical, the training process remains an influential rite of passage for recent recruits or apprentices looking for clues about their new employer.
Everyone knows that the law requires you to provide the information, instruction and training needed to ensure the health and safety of your employees. Approach the task as a burdensome obligation and the activity will have little value to your organisation beyond basic legal compliance and lip service to the law. But use the opportunity to demonstrate to staff that their training and welfare is valued and they in turn will value and implement what they learn.
Absenteeism, productivity, motivation and staff retention are all affected by how a staff respects and feels respected by its employer; these views are often rooted in those early training days when views were formed and attitudes set. Selecting the appropriate training and choosing the right support materials is vital, but then by adapting and personalising this material to reflect values and culture you increase the effectiveness of training and the subtext it conveys about you.
The HSE document ‘Health and Safety Training and What you Need to Know’ breaks the training process into five steps. Deciding what is required is first, and determined by historical health and safety issues that need to be addressed and skills gaps that need to be filled. The second step is to prioritise training needs, and this is determined by regulatory demands as much as by changes in the workplace like an influx of recruits, new work processes or changes in roles and responsibilities.
Choosing appropriate methods and resources is the third step, and involves choices about external or internal training, giving information or instruction, and delivering in classroom or on-site. Researching the means of delivery is the fourth step and involves researching the bewildering range of materials and formats on the training market. When the carousel projector and flip chart were cutting edge technology it was easy, but today the computer, DVD, intranet, internet and what is collectively called e-learning makes the fourth step challenging and sometimes unnecessarily expensive.
Step five is post-training review. This involves asking ‘do employees now understand what is required of them and do they now have the knowledge they need to work safely?’ The fifth step involves assessing the post-training world and looking for the new behaviours and attitudes promoted by the training.
Health and Safety ’08 in Bolton’s Reebok stadium will bring the market to the North West, and so it is appropriate to look at how companies and training providers there handle these questions. Two training leaders in the region are the North Lancs. Training Group and the Bailey Engineering Academy; North Lancs Training Group operates out of Accrington and delivers Government Funded training programmes to over 3000 learners.
”In some instances there is no longer a mandatory requirement to undertake a health and safety NVQ unit to gain the full qualification however we strongly encourage learners to take it as one of their optional units,’ said Health, Safety and Quality Manager, Simon Clarke. ‘We give Scriptographic booklets for self-study as a personal resource because the manner in which the booklets are written and presented is easy and interesting to absorb.’
The Bailey Engineering Academy trains 100 new apprentices a year and in 2007 alone the NG Bailey Group invested £4.2m in training and development. Booklets help it cover a broad range of health and safety and personal development subjects, and students are presented with all titles relevant to their course as they begin their studies.
Probably the biggest name in the region is the Co-Operative Group, with more than 85,000 employees in businesses ranging from farming and funeral directors to the Sunwin Motor Group. ‘On one occasion we had a need to communicate to several hundred garage mechanics quickly about vibration and white finger, and the booklets were an effective and fast way of doing so, ‘ said Compliance Manager Terry Auckland. ‘We had invited an HSE inspector around the garages and he was complimentary about what we were doing. However when we asked what else we could do and he mentioned white finger and HAVS.’
‘We do h&s surveillance within the workforce and know there is now an awareness of the vibration issue; this will be down to the decision to issue booklets and shows that the booklets do get read and the information absorbed,’ he added.
The Co-Operative Group uses booklets for in-house training, as well as distributing them direct to employees as required. Potential issues can be addressed immediately, and employees in difficult and isolated environments like garages, farms or warehouses can access information even when formal training is not scheduled and office technology not to hand.
