Introduction to health and safety

Overview

Health and safety awareness training is mandatory for staff at all levels of an organisation. This is the ideal course to satisfy that requirement – a stimulating ‘entry-level’ programme explaining how health and safety should be managed in any working environment.

The course outlines the basics of health and safety law and how organisations and individuals can become liable for health and safety offences. Roles and responsibilities for health and safety are discussed by reference to the key legislation and the expert trainer will explore with the delegates how these responsibilities are managed in practice in different types of organisation. The principles of risk assessment will be considered and their practical implementation discussed in relation to the management of the various hazards that are likely to be present in a typical workplace.

Training objectives

This course will give staff:

  • An understanding of health and safety law, liability and enforcement
  • An explanation of the principles of health and safety management in the workplace and an understanding of who should be responsible for different aspects of health and safety
  • A practical explanation of risk assessment and what constitutes a suitable and sufficient assessment
  • A broad knowledge of the typical hazards in a workplace and how these should be managed

Audience

This course provides the necessary health and safety awareness training for anyone in a working environment. It also provides the essential foundation for those involved in middle or senior management.

Format

An inter-active one-day course, with 25% of the day devoted to practical exercises. In this format, we recommend that the number of participants be limited to 16 in order to maximise the opportunity for interaction and facilitated discussion and to allow participants to explore practical examples relevant to their own situations.

Special features

The course can easily be tailored to specific working environments, eg, offices, warehouses, process industries.

The expert trainer

David is Managing Director of one of the UK’s leading health and safety consultancies and is himself a practising health and safety consultant. With 20 years’ practical experience as a chartered engineer in the construction industry, he set up his own company in 1994 to offer a range of practical risk management solutions to client organisations, primarily in the field of health and safety and project risk management. The company grew rapidly through the development of long-term relationships with clients and then merged with one of the leading international environmental consultants, where David leads the health and safety practice.

David’s particular strengths are in the development of practical solutions in the management of health and safety and the integration of health and safety management systems into business and project processes. He has considerable experience in applying these strengths to assisting clients develop robust systems for managing contracted activities.

He is able to draw upon his practical knowledge, management experience and enthusiasm to get the job done to deliver highly interactive and enjoyable training courses, as the following comments from course participants demonstrate:

‘David has a clear understanding of the subject and presented the subject matter very well.’

‘David’s ability to give practical examples of how CDM was relevant to our business and how best to approach implementation was particularly useful.’

‘David is very knowledgeable, very good and interesting course, a lot of encouragement to interact.’

‘David did an excellent job presenting this course and I am sure we will be using him again for our safety courses and consultancy.’

‘David’s business experience allows him to clearly demonstrate the benefits of ‘active’ HSE management. Rather than tutor-based presentations on theory he was able to draw on experience and personal exposure to real everyday problems.’

Course outline

  1. Overview of health and safety law
    • Statute and civil law
    • Liability and enforcement
    • Statutory duties
    • Contract law
  2. Legislative framework
    • The workplace – extent of responsibility / shared responsibility
    • Relevant legislation
  3. Management of Health and Safety
    • Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
    • Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
    • Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
    • Accident Reporting (RIDDOR)
    • Consultation with Employees and Safety Committees
  4. Risk management within your organisation
    • Business risk management
    • Health and safety risk management
    • The principles of risk assessment
    • Transferring the risk to contractors and third parties
  5. Risk assessment exercise – ‘Challenge Anneka’
  6. Managing the hazards in the workplace
    • Work equipment
    • Lifting equipment
    • Display screens
    • Manual handling
    • Fire
    • Chemicals (COSHH)
    • Personal protective equipment (PPE)
  7. Practical exercise – Workplace inspection
  8. Questions, discussion and review