There are definite benefits to employees attending accredited health and safety courses. It is however a requirement that health and safety training courses are offered or presented by a Sectional Education Training Authority (SETA) accredited training provider. By attending safety training the organisation, its health and safety team, and employees can implement effective health and safety practices in the workplace.
The first question to ask is “why are health and safety courses required”? The Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 requires employers to send some of their employees on various occupational health and safety workplace courses. Safety training courses are therefore a legal compliance requirement, enforced by the Department of Labour and its inspectors.
A definition of health and safety could be: Looking after the short and long-term physical and mental health and wellbeing of all employees at work, by preventing any form of work-related illness and injury from occurring.
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The benefits of attending health and safety courses
There are many benefits to organisations sending their employees to attend various health and safety courses, some of these benefits are listed in the bullet points below:
- Compliance – Achieving OHS act legal compliance by attending courses such as first aid, H&S representative, firefighting, risk assessment etc;
- Positive financial impact – Obtaining skills to implement effective H&S practice, measures, procedures and management systems, which can positively impact the organisations financial performance by as much as 10% on the bottom line. This can be as a result of reduced costs (less accidents and less ill health resulting in less costs) as well as increased productivity;
- Protecting reputation and additional business – Protect the organisations reputation and improve the possibility of securing additional tenders and business, due to H&S compliance and caring for the health, safety and wellbeing of the whole workforce and employee base;
- H&S culture and improved communication – Creating a positive H&S culture and improving communication between the employer / management and the employee’s / workers;
- Employee participation – Employees attending H&S courses and qualifications will result in upskilling knowledge, skills and facilitating employee participation and inclusion in areas such as risk assessments, workplace inspections, OHS committee, incident investigations and policy formation;
- Reduction of hazards and accompanying risk – Training employees in H&S risk assessment or HIRA (hazardous incident risk assessment) courses enables employees to assist in recognizing workplace hazards and their accompanying risks and implementing effective controls to eliminate or reduce the risks as much as possible.
There are many other additional benefits, but these are some of the important benefits, which are currently top of mind.
What type of health and safety courses are required in the workplace?
First Aid – Employees attending any health and safety course is important, but the most important course for employers to send their employee’s on would be First Aid. Health and safety certification in first aid is an important global health and safety training course requirement because employers must provide immediate emergency first aid treatment when an accident or emergency occurs. Paramedics can’t be placed at every workplace, or corner waiting for accidents or injuries to occur, so first aid training and skills need to be provided to fill that time gap and provide immediate first aid care when that unexpected emergency takes place.
Firefighting and Evacuation Planning – Two other emergency-related courses that employees at work need to attend would be firefighting or fire warden training, as well as evacuation planning or evacuation marshal training.
Health and Safety Representative – The health and safety representative course is also an OHS Act compliance health and safety course attendance requirement. Health and safety representatives form part of the OHS Committee and therefore have important roles and responsibilities of assisting the employer in implementing health and safety practices in the workplace.
Other Health and Safety Courses – There a range of other health and safety-related course (such as safety officer courses) which after assessment and upon successful completion all assist in implementing effective health and safety practices in the workplace, examples of these additional accredited health and safety courses would include:
- Health and safety officer – 10 days – R8,950.00 ex Vat;
- H&S supervisor – 2 days – R1,050.00 ex Vat;
- 16.2 workshop (senior / top management) – 2 hours – R450.00 ex Vat;
- H&S risk assessment – 1 day – R750.00 ex Vat;
- H&S incident investigation – 1 day – R750.00 ex Vat;
- OHS Act (legal liability) – 1 day – R750.00 ex VAT;
- HAZMAT (Hazardous material handling) – 1 day – R695.00 ex Vat;
- Stacking and storage – 1 day – R695.00 ex Vat;
- HIV aids awareness – 1 day – R695.00 ex Vat;
Absolute Health Services specialize in offering accredited health and safety courses on a national basis, either at our training centres in Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth or Cape Town, or at our clients premises when they have groups of delegates that need to attend. Contact one of our helpful consultants on 010-592-2111 to assist you with your H&S training requirements.