Why Health and Safety Training is Essential in the UK

What is health and safety training?

Health and safety training is designed to educate workers about the risks and hazards they may face in their jobs and how to protect themselves and others from harm. It covers a wide range of topics, some sector-specific, including manual handling, first aid, risk assessment, use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and construction site safety. It needs to be built into every employee’s schedule, and not seen to be something that’s taking them away from their job – a lack of health and safety training can cause serious harm. And because so many health and safety training courses are available online, it is quick, cost-effective and easy to keep all employees trained to current standards.

Why is health and safety training important?

There are many reasons why health and safety training is so important in the UK. Here are our top reasons:

Accident and injury prevention

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), there were an estimated 1.8 million work-related injuries and illnesses in the UK in 2022/23. Health and safety training can help to reduce the number of these accidents and injuries by showing how to identify and avoid hazards.

Money-saving

Accidents and injuries can be costly for businesses, in terms of lost productivity, medical bills and potential legal fees. Health and safety training can help to prevent these costs by reducing the number of accidents and injuries.

Improves employee morale

Workers who feel safe and secure in their jobs are more likely to be happy and productive, and stay with a company for longer. Being up to date with health and safety training can help to create a positive safety culture in the workplace, which can improve employee morale and therefore performance.

Legal requirement

Employers in the UK have a legal duty to provide their employees with health and safety training. This is outlined in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This applies equally to people who use display monitors (computers) or work in healthcare environments to those who work on construction or manufacturing sites. Employers are leaving themselves open to potentially damaging action if their lack of safety training leads to a workplace injury.

How can you access health and safety training?

We know how busy all companies are and so Easybook Training has sourced over 70,000 health and safety courses to make it much easier to keep up to date with your sector requirements. You can choose between classroom-based training, online courses including remote instructor-led training courses and finally in-house courses, depending on your needs and time constraints.

Classroom-based courses

Our classroom based health and safety courses cover everything from Abrasive Wheels to Vehicle Banksman as well as several NEBOSH certifications and IOSH, CITB and City & Guilds courses. There are also hundreds of other health and safety courses to choose from.

Online courses

We have partnered with several eLearning and online training providers to offer flexible and easily accessible health and safety training courses wherever you’re based. We have construction safety training, practical courses, such as complaints handling, GDPR and Environmental Management and people-focused training, including Mental Health Awareness, Sexual Harassment Training and Time Management. You’ll also find fire safety training, noise awareness training and general office health and safety online training.

We also offer in-house training and level 2 – 7 NVQs for the construction industry.

With so many different ways to access health and safety training, it’s easy to keep on track with all employees’ needs. Not only is health and safety training essential for protecting workers from harm and for creating a safe and healthy working environment, but it is also every UK employer’s legal duty to provide their employees with health and safety training. And if you are a worker, it is your right to receive health and safety training.

Easybook is here to make this process simple, affordable and accessible. Contact us for advice or guidance on health and safety training courses, or if you can’t find the course you need. We’re always happy to have a chat, you can call us on 01892 543000 or use our handy online chat on the website.