Importance of HSE training for workplace safety in 2024

Set up a culture of safety in your workplace. With employees at the heart of your business, don’t compromise on their safety. Take a proactive approach by investing in proper training for your crew.

We’ve prepared this comprehensive guide to HSE training to help reinforce your safety measures. Here, we’ll tackle its importance, common topics, and steps to creating an effective program for your team.

What is HSE training?

A key aspect of keeping your workplace safe and compliant is health, safety, and environment training, or HSE training for short. This specialized training addresses safety control gaps, equipping your employees with the latest skills and knowledge to strengthen the organization’s safety policies.

Why is HSE training important in the workplace?

Essential to crisis management, investing in HSE certification programs for your employees manages their health or well-being needs. It gives them the confidence to perform their jobs properly and prepares them to handle unexpected scenarios without hesitation or delay. 

Aside from maintaining safe work conditions, HSE training also boosts productivity, saves company resources, and reduces workplace injuries in the long run. To guarantee a successful HSE training program, prepare to give your time and commitment to training your team. 

5 HSE training topics

Get started with planning your program. To help you brainstorm what to include in your health and safety training for employees, we’ve rounded up five common topics you can discuss below.

Fire safety

No matter what industry you’re in, fire safety matters. Don’t skip out on your team’s training! Accidental fires are more common than we think, so don’t just rely on the dusty fire extinguisher propped up in your workplace. Fire safety training gives your employees a preview of fire hazards, what to do during a fire, and fire prevention techniques.

Cybersecurity

Keep your business safe and secure from online threats. A comprehensive cybersecurity program educates your team on common tactics hackers use to steal company data. From phishing emails to fraudulent links and unsecured websites, it’ll teach your employees to avoid these threats.

Workplace violence prevention 

Foster a safe space for your employees through a workplace violence prevention program. Unfortunately, a lot of cases go unreported because people are afraid to lose their jobs. Don’t be a part of the problem! 

Enrolling them in a violence prevention program addresses their unconscious bias toward others. This may manifest in the form of harassment, intimidation, physical violence, or threatening behavior.

First aid

Help your team think fast during a crisis. First aid training empowers them to offer immediate care to coworkers, patients, or victims during an accident. A few seconds or minutes could make a huge difference in the life of a critically injured person.

Ergonomics

Introduce your team to the science of ergonomics. This systematically arranges workspaces, products, and systems to create an ideal user environment. From desk jobs to manufacturing and retail, ergonomics training also advises them on proper posture, stretching, and lifting techniques. This lowers their chances of contracting musculoskeletal disorders and nerve injuries in the future.

How to deliver effective health and safety training

Now that we’ve gone over the importance of HSE training and some useful topics you can include in your next session, we’ll discuss the steps you can take to deliver an effective health and safety training program for your team.

Step 1: Evaluate your risks and needs

As every workplace is different, the first thing to do is to evaluate your risks and needs. What are the areas you wish to address with your HSE training program? What goals do you plan to achieve? Conducting a training needs assessment helps bring these issues to light in an organized and transparent way.

Keep your team in the loop by holding interviews, surveys, or audits around the workplace. Their input should further clarify which course of action to take next.

Step 2: Choose your mode of training

The second step is to select your mode of training. This can either be in-person, hybrid, online, or on-the-job training. While it isn’t good to limit your options, the reality is that this will depend on how much time and resources you have available. Also, don’t forget to consider your team’s learning styles!

Luckily, with the rise of digital workplace tools, delivering various modes of training has never been easier. SC Training’s (formerly EdApp) mobile-first platform is perfect for busy teams. Lessons can be tailored to your team’s needs and taken on any device. Information comes in bite-sized chunks to guarantee maximum knowledge retention.

Step 3: Design your training content and activities

After you’ve evaluated your goals and methods, it’s time to plot your content. Topics discussed by health and safety training companies can be intimidating and overwhelming, so why not bring some fun into the mix? The best way to engage your learners is to treat your training like a game. 

Break the ‘boring training’ stereotype with gamified templates for your videos, texts, and assessments. These are guaranteed to bring in better results for your HSE training courses.

Step 4: Implement your training program

Now we arrive at the implementation stage. Make sure to monitor your team’s progress, whether onsite or online. You want to spot these knowledge or skill gaps immediately and prevent them from worsening. Another tip is to encourage collaboration among the team. Assure your team that they don’t have to go through training alone and that you’re with them every step of the way.

Step 5: Collect feedback from the team

The last step is to gather feedback on your health and safety training program. Offer a safe space to voice their ideas or grievances without the fear of being penalized. Make sure to collect timely feedback so you can address these issues quickly. Continuous learning should flow both ways. As their manager, you’ve got to embrace your shortcomings too.

5 Free HSE training courses

Take your company’s safety culture to the next level with SC Training’s free online HSE courses with certificates. From fire prevention to cybersecurity and workplace ergonomics, these five courses are designed to empower your team.

Fire Safety

Workplace fires are more common than you think. From cluttered stations to faulty equipment and careless handling, these could all give rise to unwanted and costly damage. Through this fire safety program, your team will learn the basics of fire prevention and fire extinguisher training to reduce injuries onsite.

Cybersecurity & Internal Threats

Protect your business from online threats! Enrolling your team in cybersecurity training raises awareness and secures everyone’s private information. This course studies the concepts of cybersecurity, insider threats, common cyber attacks, and preventive measures to safeguard company data.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Violence in the workplace doesn’t simply cover physical threats and abuse. It can manifest in subtle ways, too. This is what microaggression is all about. It feeds on a person’s unconscious bias, causing them to harm their co-workers, whether intentionally or unintentionally. 

Increase your employee retention rate by enrolling your team in this diversity training program. It’ll offer tips on how to spot and stop microaggressions, stand up for your co-workers, and keep the workplace safe for everyone.

Ergonomics (for Retail)

Your team’s productivity doesn’t have to come at the cost of their discomfort. Luckily, this course for retail workers shares ergonomic principles to guarantee a safe and comfortable working space. This also explores musculoskeletal disorders, store-wide ergonomic solutions, stretching, and front-end practices.

OSHA First Aid Standards (US)

Stay compliant with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) guidelines on first aid training. The knowledge and skills gained from this course could make a huge difference for a co-worker in critical condition. This course details OSHA's standards on first aid and how to address life-threatening and non-life-threatening injuries.

Kickstart your HSE training with the best mobile-first learning platform. Use SC Training today.