Mandatory Staff Training: Legal Requirements & Key Courses
Training your staff is always a key priority and ensuring your business meets the legal requirements for training and qualifications is a must.
What is mandatory staff training?
Mandatory training is any course the law requires your employees to complete so they can work safely and legally. Common examples include first aid, fire safety, and food hygiene, but exact needs depend on your industry and risks.
What this guide covers
Training your staff is always a key priority and ensuring your business meets the legal requirements for training and qualifications is a must. But the law around business’ legal training responsibilities can sometimes be confusing, so it’s no surprise that companies are asking: what skill sets and mandatory training do my workforce require? Below, we look at a few of the key courses needed for businesses in many different industries.
How do I know which courses my business legally needs?
Complete a written risk assessmen...
First aid training
The first and foremost mandatory training for any workforce is to do with health and safety. The Health and Safety First Aid Regulations 1981 state that employers will need to make sure that their first aid facilities, equipment and number of trained first aiders adequately and appropriately fits the workplace’s need.
With words like ‘adequate’ written in this law, it’s no surprise that businesses are often confused by what this standard actually requires. To ensure you meet the legal criteria, we suggest you undertake a risk assessment.
Through your risk assessment, carefully look at your workplace and any possible risks; do you have any lone workers? Do your staff work with high-risk or industrial machinery? Do you offer flexible working hours? If you have one current trained first-aider, how vulnerable is your business when they are on annual leave or absent with sickness?
If your business operates heavy machinery, you are legally required to have a first-aider who has been trained on a course which is HSE complaint. We offer a variety of First Aid Courses to meet your needs- including First Aid at Work Training, three or two day refresher courses and Emergency First Aid at Work Level 3 Award. If you’re still unsure about what first aid training your business needs, contact Knights Agency for advice on what mandatory training is needed for your business.
Do all employees need first aid training?
No. You must have enough certified first aiders to cover every shift, but not every employee needs the certificate. A low-risk office may need one first aider; higher-risk or multi-shift sites will need more. Your risk assessment sets the right number.
Fire safety training
UK law is, again, a little vague about workplace requirements when it comes to fire safety. It states that a company must provide ‘appropriate’ fire fighting equipment.
In essence, this means that you will have to assess the risk of fire and ensure all workspaces have firefighting equipment that’s right for the job. You will have to considers the amount of staff members in the building, the office space including how many levels you operate within, any combustible materials stored in your offices and a variety of additional factors. Then, one or a team of your staff members will have to make sure that all extinguishers, hoses and sprinkler systems are in working order, as well as ensuring you have a fire marshal working at all times. To be compliant, you also must have a fire risk assessment available at all times and a fire safety log book.
To make sure that you are fully aware of all mandatory training elements to fire safety, we train staff with a variety of courses, including Fire Safety Awareness, and also Fire Marshal with and without fire extinguishers.
Food hygiene training
Do you work in the food industry? Then, food hygiene and safety will be top of your training priorities.
The law states that food businesses must make sure that any staff member who is working with food are supervised effectively and trained in food hygiene. They should also have clear and relevant training for their role.
Businesses must develop and maintain food safety management procedures to ensure they meet the legal criteria.
We offer various courses on food hygiene and safety, including Food Safety Awareness or Food Safety – level, 2, 3, or 4.
For further information on mandatory training courses for your business, contact Knights Agency and our friendly team will ensure you get the right advice.
How often should mandatory training be refreshed?
Most mandatory courses need updating e...
Book a free 15-min consult call with us. We’ll help you get your mandatory training done right.
