What Are the Benefits Of Online Health and Safety Training?

In the UK, the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to make sure they provide the right equipment and protective wear for their employees, in addition to relevant, up-to-date training.

It’s no surprise that online health and safety training has grown in popularity, particularly in the last couple of years due to the coronavirus pandemic and the need to continue to provide training in an online and remote format. With employees being in different locations, there became the need to provide the training in a way that was easily accessible for everyone, no matter where they were situated.

How does online health and safety training work?

Target Zero can provide comprehensive online health and training tailored to the needs of your business allowing employees to complete the training within a specific time frame to comply with regulations, from any location. The types of courses offered include:

• IOSH training and certifications
• NEBOSH training and certifications
• Work-based courses
• Moving and manual handling courses
• Risk assessment courses
• Machinery safety courses
• First aid courses
• Health and safety auditor courses

The benefits of online health and safety training in the workplace

Health and safety training in the workplace, be it an at-home, office, factory, shop floor or warehouse environment, leads to several benefits, including:

1. Helps to prevent accidents and injuries – the better equipped you employees are in assessing the risk of their roles and handling difficult situations, before they escalate, the greater the prevention of accidents and injuries occurring. Providing health and safety training is one of the best measures you can implement to protect your employees.
2. Health and safety regulation compliance – the Health & Safety Act 1974 requires employers to ‘protect and health, safety and welfare of their employees at work and on other premises’. Part of that is providing health and safety training.
3. A safe environment at work – the majority of health and safety training programmes can be conducted online, ensuring that employees and employers are responsible for their workplace environment and providing the procedures should something happen.
4. Heightens safety awareness – online health and safety training raises awareness of hazards in the workplace and the precautions employees can take to prevent accidents or injuries related to those hazards.
5. Boosts employee productivity – through training and building awareness, there is the likelihood that the number of accidents and injuries occurring will be significantly reduced, resulting in higher productivity.

As well as being a requirement, investing in health and safety training is one of the best ways to minimise risks and raise awareness of workplace hazards that will directly benefit the working environment for employees, reduce the level of injuries, sick leave, productivity downtime and other costs associated with accidents and injuries, and promote a safe working environment for everyone.

Being able to provide health and safety training online adds greater flexibility, reduces the amount of productivity downtime as staff are not tied up in face-to-face training, promotes understanding of risk management as well as health and safety precautions, protects everyone in the workplace and generates more uptake of health and safety procedures and policies.