A complete guide to health and safety training

Keeping your employees safe and healthy should be a top priority. Make sure they follow the latest safety guidelines set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other organizations to help them avoid accidents and health risks.

Protect your team by doing regular health and safety training. Not only will you prevent fines and penalties for non-compliance, but you’ll be assured your employees are safe at work. Learn how to create a safe working environment through this health and safety training guide.

What is health and safety training?

Health and safety training is the process of teaching your employees the best and updated practices to protect themselves from any present work hazards. Your employees will learn safety protocols, hazard communication, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and other necessary practices for their job through this type of training. 

Why is health and safety training important?

This type of training is essential to protecting your employees from life-threatening injuries and accidents. Every workplace has its own health risks whether it's a fire emergency or a chemical hazard. Your employees need to know how to identify risks, how to prevent them, and what to do if they encounter them.

Occupational health and safety training will also make sure your company is compliant with the most recent health regulations and standards. Not only will this help you save time during audits, but your company will be at minimal risk for lawsuits and paying out hospital fees.

7 Types of health and safety training

There are different topics that can be covered under health and safety training. When choosing one, it’s important to consider if it's relevant and necessary in your specific workplace. Here are 7 types of health and safety training that can be included in any workplace.

1. General Safety Training

A good place to start with your health and safety training program is with your company’s general safety guidelines. Every office should be equipped with an evacuation plan, first aid kit, and alarm system in the case of an emergency. General safety training can teach your employees everything they need to know when an accident or a disaster happens.

2. First Aid Training

This type of training prepares your employees to handle a medical incident. They’ll be able to respond to minor injuries and major emergencies to stabilize the affected person and to prevent further complications like bleeding, infection, and other trauma. They’ll learn how to treat wounds, do CPR, stop bleeding, and other treatments for common injuries. It's an essential training topic for any workplace to protect the lives and well-being of your employees.

3. Ergonomics 

Ergonomics is the study of the most efficient ways to move and sit in the workplace. In an ergonomics training course, your team will learn how to properly lift things, sit for long periods, and move around the office. Even when your employees don’t do manual labor, this is a great topic to guard them against sores, sprains, aches, and other forms of body pain. 

4. Fire Safety

A fire can happen at any time under the right circumstances. It can happen through an electrical failure, a cooking accident, or a gas leak. If your team is unprepared, they won’t be able to properly manage the situation. With a fire safety course, they’ll be able to prevent accidents, identify flammable hazards, memorize the fire exits, operate fire extinguishers, and evacuate safely during emergencies.

5. Cyber Security

In today’s digital era, part of employee health data exists online in company databases. Without any defense, a hacker could steal the personal data of your employees and your company. Your employees should be aware of the kinds of scams that malicious parties employ to get their passwords, accounts, and other sensitive information. With proper cybersecurity practices, your employees will be safe online.

6. Electrical Safety

Every workplace uses electricity but not all employees know how to use it safely. An electrical safety course can give an introduction to how these devices work so your team won’t cause outages, fires, and other accidents. This is vital for any work that uses heavy machinery. If your workplace has machine-related risks, you should add lockout tag out training courses in your electrical safety program.

7. Disaster Preparedness

Disaster preparedness training focuses on the protocol when a weather disaster happens in the office. Your employees will learn the available fire exits, the location of first-aid kits and food, and how to contact rescue teams in an emergency scenario. These practices will protect your employees’ lives until the relevant authorities arrive.

Best practices for health and safety training programs

Once you’ve seen the types of health and safety training, it's time to start designing your program. Follow these best practices to create a health and safety training program that can develop your team’s safety culture.

• Do a training needs analysis

To find what your team needs to learn, you have to conduct a proper training needs assessment. This is a process where your HR department will identify skills and knowledge gaps in your team. For health and safety training, they’ll check if your team needs preparation for any accidents, diseases, or disasters. 

• Focus on prevention

The best way to deal with health and safety risks is to prevent them from causing harm. Your training program should have strategies, techniques, or methods your team can use to secure the workplace. This will make sure that if an employee is affected by hazards, the impact will be minimized.

• Use high-quality information

Safety practices are always being updated to handle newly identified hazards. Make sure your learning content and current regulations are up to date with OSHA standards. Teaching industry-approved practices and skills can completely protect your team from common injuries and accidents. 

You can find OSHA courses and other skills training in SC Training’s expansive Course Library. They have over 1,000 courses for any form of training you need. Some of them have been created with industry experts for actionable and practical insights. They’re also designed with games and activities to make learning fun and engaging.

• Collect feedback

Put a feedback system in your training program so you can gain insights into how your team received it. This will make sure that you have a consistent health and safety training program for future teams. You should also update your program’s content when new regulations and safety practices are released.

• Use a learning management system

A learning management system or a LMS is a powerful platform that can manage your entire health and safety training program. It’s an all-in-one tool that can track attendance and learner progress. It can also allow you to easily design and present courses for your team. Investing in an LMS can help create a safer workplace through high-quality health and safety training.

You can try all these features for free with SC Training. It’s an LMS that focuses on delivering training to your entire team through mobile learning. Just set a deadline and they can complete their assigned lessons on any device at any time. Your team can easily catch up on the latest health and safety guidelines with their daily tasks.

SC Training is also powered by microlearning. It’s an educational approach where lessons are delivered in short and repeated bursts instead of 30-minute sessions. SC training’s courses only take 15 minutes to complete and are made with interactive game templates. This will help your team remember and apply key details about safety practices, protocols, and regulations.  

5 Workplace health and safety training courses

Now that you’ve prepared the foundation of your program, it's time to pick some courses. It's the main learning content of your program so it’s important to pick courses that are relevant to your team, their tasks, and their office. Here are 5 courses to get you started.

1. Safety at Work by SafetyCulture

Safety at Work by SafetyCulture is the best first step to making safety a priority in your workplace. It’s a 20-minute course that’s separated into three lessons: hazard identification, proactive safety measures, and promoting a safety culture. These lessons can help your employees turn their regular safety procedures into essential safety habits.

2. General Health and Safety Provisions (US)

This course is perfect for new employees who are unfamiliar with OSHA and its standards. It discusses the duties of the employer and employee in establishing and practicing safe working habits. This will also help your team understand that they have a right to a safe working environment. General Health and Safety Provisions (US) has been approved by the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) for its content on OSHA Standard 1926.20.

3. Fatigue Risk Management

Fatigue or tiredness can lower your team’s output and increase the risk of accidents. This Fatigue Risk Management course can give your employees strategies to manage that. It also discusses where fatigue comes from, how it affects your team, and why it's a safety risk. This course comes with an interactive quiz to help your team remember the lesson.

4. Hazard Communication in General Industry (US)

If your employees handle dangerous chemicals, they must know their health effects and how to protect themselves from them. Hazard Communication in General Industry (US) can teach your employees how to use safety data sheets and chemical labels so they can handle these potentially dangerous materials. You can find other hazard communication courses for your industry in SC Training’s expansive Course Library. 

5. Manual Handling

Lifting heavy objects can lead to sores or injuries. Manual Handling can give your team the proper techniques and exercises for lifting and carrying. It also covers the common risks of carrying heavy objects so your team can protect themselves from harm and injury. This course has been created with industry experts for the best applicable techniques.

Keep your team safe through health and safety training. Sign up for SC Training today!