INDG380 TREAD SAFELY - HSE

6
Tread safely A guide to health and safety in the tyre retread industry
Section 2 Training
Do you carry out any health and safety training?
If you do, is it effective?
Training is often seen as a burden with no
payback. Yet without proper training in health and
safety you could lose the very people your company
depends on, either temporarily through injury or
long-term ill health and absence, or permanently
through a fatal accident or staff leaving to work
somewhere else.
Overall improvements in health and safety need
to be underpinned by good health and safety
training otherwise they are unlikely to be sustained.
In the retread industry, employers rely on
employees to follow safe systems of work. Effective
health and safety training is essential to provide
employees with the knowledge and skills they need
to work safely. Failing to provide effective training
can lead to injury, ill health, damage to plant and
equipment and loss of production, all of which can
prove costly to the business.
Case study
A new employee was injured at a tyre-buffing
machine when his shirt became entangled on the
rasp. The open guard had failed to operate the
safety interlock switch. The interlock should have
been properly maintained, but the employee was
untrained and had insufficient knowledge of the
machine and its safety devices to understand that
the guard was defective.
Provide your employees with the information,
instruction and supervised practice they need to
enable them to work safely. They need to
understand:
■ the hazards and potential risks associated with
their work;
■ the measures provided to prevent injury and ill
health;
■ the precautions they must take;
■ their responsibilities for their own safety and
that of others;
■ how to report defects and unsafe conditions;
and
■ where to go for help.
Training should be structured and include an
appropriate balance of formal instruction and
practical training, including supervised practice on
the job. In both cases the training needs to be
given by someone who has the knowledge and
skills to deliver it. If the only training you give is by
an experienced worker showing the trainee what to
do, you are unlikely to succeed. Experience has
shown that all too often the experienced worker
passes on to the trainee bad habits, short cuts and
sometimes even unsafe practices.
After the training, it is important to make sure
trainees have understood what they have been
taught and have developed the skills they need to
work safely. You can do this by checking their
knowledge (eg by asking structured questions) and
observing them as they work to check their skills.
You also need to evaluate the content and
quality of each training session you provide so you
can identify the improvements you need to make
for future training programmes. It is essential that
you involve the trainees in this process. Ask them
about the training course. Did it meet their
expectations? Did it cover the right topics? Were
the topics covered in enough (or too much) depth?
Was the quality and length of each training session
right? Were the training facilities suitable? Above all,
do the trainees think that the training objectives
were met?
Appointed safety representatives are entitled to
the training they need to carry out their functions
properly. In the case of Trades Union-appointed
representatives, the Unions provide the training. If
there are safety representatives on your workforce
make sure you give them the time off work they
need for this training and encourage them to attend
the appropriate training course.
It is not only operators and shop floor workers
who need training. Managers need to know how to
manage health and safety, and supervisors need to
know how to supervise safe work activity. So you
need to provide them with health and safety training
appropriate to their roles. Ensure agency staff are
properly trained too.
Remember:
✔ Train your employees in safe systems of
work.
✔ Adopt a structured approach to training.
✔ Validate the training you give and evaluate it
by asking the trainees for their views on the
training they have received.
✔ Ensure your training arrangements take
account of agency staff.
✔ Provide your supervisors with the training
they need to supervise safe work activity.
✔ Train your managers how to manage health
and safety.