The Caretakers' Forum

Evening all,
When I first started, even on this forum, everyone said I should look into some training courses. At work, we have access to the national college and such for free courses and will be up to at least subsidising the cost of anything else I recently renewed my FAW and am up to date on the mandatory training so I was just wondering if you folks know of anything that I should look into particularly.?
Cheers,
-Freshface.

It kind of depends upon your remit as to what training you concern yourself with. but i would suggest that weather you are caretaker/Site Manager/ Asst./ Buisness Manager then you should have some sort of awareness training in the following areas,

Fire Safety (inc. warden roles, extinguishers)
Legionella awareness
Asbestos awareness
General H&S induction (this should include work at heights, manual handling, electrical safety and awareness, COSHH)

then depending on your role you may wish to lookinto things such as

Managing contractors
CDM awareness
PAT testing

...... im sure there are others which i havent listed which other memebers will point out, but this might be a good foundation

Our County Council health and safety department run all the courses I have ever needed including Managing Safety in School premises (IOSH accredited), Asbestos awareness, working at heights, COSHH to name a few

I started here with no courses under my belt directly related to the job. I was sent on courses for Legionella and Asbestos, then First Aid. Then we were set up on an online training site where I just did everything that looked related to the role. Working at heights, lone working, COSHH, h&s, electrical safety, various fire related courses, and some other random courses. They cancelled that one, and went on another site where I repeated the above. This one has also now been cancelled due to cost, and now it's all going out of date. The BM asked me to look for courses, so I pointed to the two providers that were cancelled. Stalemate.
I am currently using the degrees in common sense, experience, and practicality I have to cover my role.

This is a difficult one. When someone starts, there are a few courses you should have, then there are the desirable ones. But some courses have an expiry date, therefore you need to refresh. It's worrying that they say a course is too expensive- give them a few HSE prosecutions to look at and they will find the money. I believe it is statutory/mandatory to provide some training, and it would not be looked on favourably if they sited cost as a reason to not train someone.

Talk to HR as they may have free training with one of their subscriptions (for example TES.com or https://nationalcollege.com/categories/online-safety I have even had DfE online Fire Safety etc... )

Standard annual:
General HSE Awareness
Asbestos Awareness
Manual Handling
Fire Safety
Working at Height
Display Screen Equipment
Avoiding Slips and Trips
Data Protection
First aid at work (argue - who is on site during the holidays?)
Lone worker
Ladder safety

Then you can get on to specifics:
Driver Safety Awareness
Fire Warden at Work
COSHH
Abrasive Wheels
Remote Workers Health, Safety and Welfare
Working with Hazardous Substances
PASMA Tower training (so you can put up a small tower to get to those hall lights)

I would recommend, if you can, to do a five day IOSH course..

Additional new ones seem to be things like:
Managing Stress within your team
Mental Health: Manage the conversation
Mental Health: Start the Conversation
Mental Health: Stress Awareness

Not formal training, but you can get some toolbox talks from places like:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/res ... xtalks.htm
https://www.safetytalkideas.com/safety-talks/
https://www.c2safety.co.uk/c2-toolbox-talks/
https://www.segurohealthandsafety.co.uk/tool-box-talks/