Returning to Work: Health and Safety Refresher Courses

If you asked us in late 2019 that people up and down the country would spend the following year and a half working from home or – in some cases – not working at all, we wouldn’t have believed you. That just goes to show that we really never know what’s right around the corner.

Anyway, let’s focus on what we do know. We’re now deep into 2021 and the UK’s workforce is returning to the workplace, somewhere that now feels pretty alien to all of us. So, to help get your employees settled in and to ensure that they refamiliarise themselves with the office in the safest way possible, we would recommend giving them a health and safety refresher course.

Fire safety awareness

If you work in a large office block, having an excellent understanding of fire safety is absolutely essential. It can be easy to forget the various fire risks and protocols after a year away, so putting your employees on a fire safety awareness course could be a great way to get them reacquainted. 

Here are some of the different areas that a fire safety awareness course will focus on:

• The different types of fires and their associated risks
• What causes fires and how fires spread
• How to identify the different extinguishers and how to use them
• The risks associated with tackling fires
• How to move in smoke
• The different means of escape from fire

Manual handling courses

If your employees usually work in a warehouse but have been away for a long time, not only might they have become physically weaker after being stuck inside, but they also might have forgotten the proper lifting technique for heavy objects. With this in mind, if your employees return to work without any refresher training, there’s a good chance that they might be out of work again with a serious injury. That’s why we would recommend a manual handling course, these will usually cover:

• Types and causes of manual handling injuries
• The anatomy of the spine and its weaknesses
• How to assess a load
• Principles of good movement
• Practical application for lifting, pushing and pulling

Safety and environment courses for construction workers

Construction sites are some of the most dangerous workplaces on earth, so if your employees have been away for a while, it makes sense to give them a construction safety refresher course to minimise the chance of any accidents occurring on site.

Here are some of the things that a safety and environment course for construction workers will cover:

• Defining construction hazards and risks
• Protecting the environment on site
• Hazard spotting exercises
• Improving safety performance on site
• Quizzes and Q&A sessions

Here at Health & Safety Training, we’re the leading provider of all kinds of health and safety courses across the North East and beyond. We carry out all of the courses listed in this article for companies on a weekly basis, so if you’re looking to help get your employees settled in and safely back on track, then why not get in touch with us today? There will always be a friendly member of our team available to help.