When delivering Health & Safety training in Kent I find it is a very difficult subject to get right, so the correct approach is needed; you want learners to be engaged, relaxed and most of all able to learn. It’s a funny subject as not all learners feel the value, but have been told it is mandatory. As a trainer, this is one of my biggest challenges, I feel very lucky that I have had lots of students who are motived to learn and want to get the most out of the training sessions, however I have had some learners who see the training as a run down the clock exercise and feel no value around health and safety, so I ask this question at the start of the day: “What are the 3 most important things in your life?”
Common answers:
- Family
- Home
- Health
- Money
I take each answer as it comes:
Family – If an injury happens at work how many people are affected? The injured person, the family of that injured person who may need to support the recovery. No one wants to get a call to hear a family member has been involved in a serious injury at work.
Home – We work so we can provide, we pay bills with what we earn including mortgages. If we get injured as a result of poor health and safety practises we may lose our house through loss of earnings.
Health – What we do at work affects our health be it musculoskeletal injuries, lung problems etc…
Money – Why do we work? To earn
Then the point gets highlighted, everything we do at work has implications on our three most important things in our lives. But what rarely comes up as the most important thing in our life is WORK.
SAMS tries to dispel the misconceptions that some people may have about health and safety trainers and we have achieved some excellent feedback as a result.