Only 55% of UK Organisations Offer Health and Safety Training

Is this a true reflection of the state of health and safety training in the UK?

A recent survey by Digits, of 1001 UK employees and 60 UK Learning and Development and HR practitioners, found that only 55% of organisations offer their employees health and safety training. UK Health and Safety law states that employers must provide clear health and safety information and training to all employees, so what’s going on? 470 respondents stating that they aren’t offered health and safety training might sound like a small number, but it should be zero.

A Gallup survey found that 52% of participants compliance training was delivered digitally and if they rated their training as excellent, only 17%, it was down to their enjoyment of the training. This tells us that too many employees are being asked to complete dull, non-active and non-engaging online training as a tick box exercise, rather than employers evaluating the feedback and effectiveness of the training and acting on it. It is often thought that online compliance training is less effective than face to face training, however it is down to the quality of the training that really makes a difference, whether online or in a classroom. And it has to be said that face to face delivery of health and safety training is generally not the most engaging, but the same can be said of poor quality online training. Quality online training which offers candidates interactivity, quizzes, video etc. can be far more engaging, and therefore memorable, than face to face training.

Here at eLearning Marketplace compliance online training is definitely our best seller, which is probably another reason why this revelation of non-compliance of the law is such a surprise. Not only is it law to provide health and safety training, but the duty of care that employers have for their employees surely must be paramount. In addition the cost of online training is so low, with quality health and safety courses retailing for one candidate as low as £12 and going down to as little as £0.39 per enrolment for bulk purchases, so there really is no excuse.