Why does Health and Safety training have a bad reputation?

Let’s not try to deny it, it does.

As you say the words 'Health and Safety', you are met with sighs and eye rolls.

Or a minimum of a complete lack of excitement.

So why is that the case?

Here is some mistakes companies make, and some solutions to ensure the stereotype isn't upheld.

Mistake 1

One of the issues is that companies are required to do the training.

They do it to tick the box so end up going down the route of ‘off the shelf’ generic training.

The employees do the same course, every year to refresh, and it becomes boring, plus they don’t actually get shown how to apply it practically to their own role.

Solution

Once you start making it tailored and actually referencing their own workplace… their interest is peaked.

To get the buy in, you need to be talking about and solving problems they have in their workplace.

Showing Rail workers how to lift a cardboard box in a classroom, isn’t going to help them solve the issues they have moving things Trackside.

It needs to be relevant to what they do.

Mistake 2

Does it sometimes go too deep for the delegates attending?

Do shop floor/ coal face workers really need to know about things like legislation and costs to industry?

Or do they just need to know their own responsibilities and potential consequences.

The word legislation is another one that can make peoples brains instantly turn off.

And the truth is, they probably don’t care about the costs either.

Solution

Talking about billions of pounds lost for massive corporations to someone who earns £12 an hour isn’t going to have the impact you might think it does.

It’s too far removed from their role in the company.

That may be something you discuss when doing manager training sessions, but William the Warehouse Worker doesn’t care if the company he’s working for lost a few million quid last year, as long as his wages are being paid.

However, he probably does care about getting home safely to his family each night.

So focus on how they can achieve that.

Keeping it basic and relatable is the best way.

Summary

Tailored, bespoke training is the solution to ensure people enjoy Health and Safety training… because yes, it can be enjoyable!

This is why we tailor our training to the people on the course.

But here is something else to consider…

A lot of companies say they do ‘Tailored training’ but what does that actually mean?

👉 Do have a call with you to find out more about your business, industry and employee demographic?

👉 Do they already know the issues you face within your industry because of experience?

👉 Do they come to site and do a Training Needs Analysis?

👉 Do they spend time working with you to design bespoke courses and training to ensure everything you want included is covered?

… or do they just have the words 'Tailored” and 'Bespoke” on their website and promotional materials?

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Sometimes courses don’t need much tailoring.