Amid the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, employee health and safety awareness became a business-critical concern, forcing many manufacturers to radically rethink their approach to training.
Traditionally, learning programmes have focused on upskilling existing colleagues, leaving new starters to develop at a slower pace. But within a highly specialised manufacturing environment, this early knowledge deficit can trigger a dangerous domino effect. To protect against accidents, penalties and prosecution, targeted health and safety instruction should be delivered from day one.
Making an early start on safety training means that best practice is built from the ground up. Standard working practices are learned in line with compliance KPIs and strategy, contributing to a strong, evolving safety culture. By partnering with a trusted H&S consultant, businesses can create custom learning plans to ensure every worker has the right training for their role. In practice, this could involve supplementing ‘hands on’ instruction in high-risk operational areas (such as machinery use) with general hazard awareness education.
This is where a sector health and safety specialist, experienced at implementing bespoke training options, can really deliver. For example, by using an online tool to provide engaging, web-based content and competency assessments – designed to complement and reinforce a company’s own on-the-job coaching – manufacturers can consistently strengthen workers’ safety knowledge from all sides.
With a 24/7 link to training modules, new starters can shape their own development schedule, while site managers have full visibility of progress, performance and areas for improvement. An online e-learning tool can also support the needs of hybrid workforces, providing flexible, instantly accessible courses for both home-based and onsite staff.
Comprehensive health and safety training should be a core part of every manufacturer’s onboarding process. The pandemic has proven the crucial need for employee compliance education, and a ‘first day focus’ can boost standards, bridge knowledge gaps and build solid safety skills from the very start.
With corporate reputation and the safety of the wider workforce at stake, why wait?
