Provide health and safety training

Everyone who works for you needs to know how to work safely and without risks to health. You must provide clear instructions, information and adequate training for your employees. Don't forget contractors and self-employed people who may be working for you.

 Make sure everyone has information on:

• hazards and risks they may face
• measures in place to deal with those hazards and risks
• how to follow any emergency procedures

Health and safety training should take place during working hours and you must not charge employees for the training.  There are many external trainers who will be able to help you with your training needs but you can often deliver effective training 'in house'.

Health and safety training needs

Ask your employees what they think about training to make sure it's relevant and effective. Keeping training records will help you to identify when your employees might need refresher training. See consult your employees on health and safety. 

The information and training you provide should be in a form that is easy to understand. Everyone working for you should know what they are need do.

Remember some of your staff may have particular training needs, for example:

• employees who are new to the job
• people changing jobs or taking on extra responsibilities
• young employees (PDF, 528KB) are a vulnerable group that will require extra training and close supervision
• migrant workers are another vulnerable group which should be given careful consideration
• health and safety representatives 

Remember that staff will need extra training if you get new equipment or working practices change.

Download a guide to health and safety training (PDF, 254KB).