Top Health & Safety Courses for 2024

Workplace Health and Safety is a critical requirement, and selecting the right health and safety courses for your business is not just a regulatory requirement but a strategic investment in your workforce. In this insight, we aim to guide business owners and managers through our top ten list of health, safety, and environmental courses, including NVQs you should consider for your 2024 training programs.

Course: Health and Safety Management qualification (Non-Construction)

A specific Health and Safety management qualification is a must to ensure all legal obligations are embedded into an organisation and it has an effective, robust management system to capture risk, identify controls, and embed processes. There are a few options available including:

• NEBOSH General

  NEBOSH General is a higher-level qualification that is aimed at those holding Health and Safety Advisor or Manager roles or are looking to move into this profession.

• IOSH Managing Safely

  IOSH Managing Safely is a shorter 3-day course and is ideal for those who may be managing or advising on health and safety or are responsible within their workplace and require some elementary training.

Course: Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS) (Construction)

Accredited by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), Construction managers need the Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS) for several important reasons, as it plays a key role in enhancing their ability to manage construction projects safely and effectively. Often, this qualification is considered essential as part of a competency framework requirements for managers to hold this qualification.

Course: First Aid

You must make appropriate first-aid arrangements for your workplace. In doing so you should consider the circumstances of your workplace, workforce and the health and safety risks that may be present to help you decide what arrangements you need to put in place. If there is a risk of personal injury within the workplace, you require qualified competent persons to administer first aid and call the emergency services. The 2 most recognized qualifications available are:

• Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW)

  Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) – EFAW training enables a first aider to give emergency first aid to someone who is injured or becomes ill while at work

• First Aid at Work

  First Aid at Work (FAW) – FAW is a 3-day course that is designed to provide first aiders with the skills and knowledge to respond to a variety of emergencies.

Course: Mental Health First Aider

In the same way as learning physical first aid, MHFA teaches people how to recognize those crucial warning signs of mental ill health and feel confident to guide someone to appropriate support. There are many options available, but we recommend the 2-Day Mental Health First Aider course as a key consideration this year to help break stigma and open up conversations. Its super interactive, thought-provoking and relevant.

Course: Asbestos Awareness

Asbestos can be found in any building built before the year 2000 and causes around 5000 deaths every year (Source: HSE 2023). Whether its licensed contractors, those needing to manage asbestos in situ, or you’ve identified employees of whom may be unintentionally exposed to an asbestos hazard in their line of work (DIY, Plumbers, Electricians etc..), it’s critical that employees are competent and can recognize asbestos containing materials and stop works if danger ever arises. We would recommend the Asbestos Awareness ½ day course that will provide a basic understanding of the hazards, risks and immediate emergency controls associated with Asbestos.

Course: Health and Safety Awareness

Providing training and instructions to your employees to ensure that they are able to carry out their tasks safely and without health risks fosters a positive Health and Safety culture. Training helps employees know what they should and should not do when they carry out their workplace activities. If working in construction, we’d recommend the CITB Health and Safety Awareness course. For non-construction, the IOSH Working Safely is a front-runner. Often, you can also steer some internal policies onto these courses to make it more bespoke to your arrangements.

NVQs: Various

NVQs are a fantastic way of recognising your workforce’s existing experience and matching that to a recognized academic qualification. This not only boosts employee development and effectiveness but also enables a business to tender for more work and demonstrate competence to any would-be client that they have a team capable of undertaking the proposed works safely, efficiently, and with planning confidence. NVQ courses range from Level 2–7 and cover logistics, construction, health and safety, and more. As there are so many to list, we’d recommend you give us a call to discuss your needs.

Course: CITB Temporary Works

This one is typically aimed at the construction industry. The law says any temporary structure must be designed, installed and maintained to withstand any foreseeable loads which may be imposed on it and that it be only used for the purposes for which it was designed, installed and maintained.

Temporary works such as scaffolding, excavations, cofferdams and caissons must be inspected by a competent person on a regular basis and loaded to design. The two best courses to qualify employees are either the Temporary Works Coordinator (TWC) or the Temporary Works Supervisor (TWS).

Course: PRINCE2

PRINCE is a process-based method for effective project management and will give you the fundamental skills you need to become a successful project manager. It stands for Projects in Controlled Environments and is used and recognized all over the world. Projects range in complexity, resource and time, and a recognized project management qualification is certainly something to consider when upskilling staff and installing a recognized management concept. PRINCE is not the only methodology, but we think it’s the most known. The PRINCE2 Foundation is our recommendation and a great insight to projects.

Course: Environmental Awareness

Environmental Training gives employees and managers knowledge and awareness that allows them to move forward sustainably, and the confidence to promote change within the organization whilst reducing their carbon footprint. The Site Environmental Awareness Training Scheme (SEATS) underpins this knowledge and provides a foundation level of understanding to drive your ambitions further.