Workplace Health & Safety

This course covers general workplace health and safety risks that apply to a wide range of sectors of businesses and organisation.  These vary from office and retail environments to workshops and factories. The course provides an excellent introduction to health and safety in workplace, from which to build your knowledge on.  A natural progression from this course is to move on the course material that provide more detailed knowledge of specific hazards.  Examples of these are:

• Slips, trips and falls
• Behavioural Safety
• COSHH training
• Working at Height training
• Fire Safety
• Electrical Safety

This is a broad-based introduction course. It provides a useful place to start for anyone who is new to health and safety in the workplace. It also provides perfect course training material to use as part of a staff training induction program.

Health and safety legislation is put in place to prevent accidents or injury in the workplace or in a public environment.  The Health and Safety Act 1974  is the central piece of legislation that governs health and safety in the workplace in the UK.  Under this act, everyone has a duty to

• Look after their own health and safety
• Look after the health and safety of others, including clients and colleagues
• Cooperate with management processes relating to health and safety
• Use, and maintain, any safety equipment provided by your employer

The course goes through specific terminology that relates to health and safety and provides information on how the act, and other acts and regulations, including those relating to COSHH and RIDDOR, are used to implement a policy of good health and safety.

Failure to comply with the legal requirements of health and safety legislation can lead to serious consequences for both organisation and the individuals. Sanctions can include fines, imprisonment, and disqualification from being able to hold a directorship in the UK.

By the end of the course, you will be aware of the most common causes of accidents in different working environments, how to minimise the associated risks and implement effective measures to control them.  You will be given statistics on each area which will help you to consider how to apply it to your own company or organisations risk assessment process.

A statistical example is that for every 10 near misses, there will be an accident. For every 30 minor accidents, there will be one major accident. If near misses are continually ignored, there will be an accident. This gives an indication of the importance of a robust reporting system, which should be included in any health and safety policy. The top three causes of major injuries are

• slips, trips and falls on the same level
• falls from a height
• injuries sustained whilst handling, lifting or carrying a load

You will be given information about other common causes of accidents at work that include fire, electricity, workstation safety and manual handling. This part of the course acts as an overview of each area.  It is recommended to undertake more detailed course material for those who are responsible for the implementation of the associated health and safety procedures.  You can find these courses in our main course section.

As an employee, there may be times when you are faced with an emergency situation. Knowing what to do, will help you deal with the situation in a confident manner and could prevent further injury, or even save someone’s life.  The course gives information on risk assessments and action procedures in order to be prepared when faced with an emergency procedure such as an accident or sudden illness.

We take a closer look at COSHH – the control of substances hazardous to health and PPE, Personal Protective Equipment.

The COSHH regulations 2002 state that every employer is required to make arrangements to prevent or control the exposure of its employees to all substances which may affect their health. Every employee must then use and operate the precautions that have been put into place and cooperate with the employer to ensure compliance.

Case studies are highlighted as individual examples of health and safety procedures which also serves to outline the risks and potential consequences in the event of a breach of health and safety.