Safety training: top tips for improving its effectiveness

As Head of Education at British Safety Council in India, what does your role involve and what are your goals?
My role is to identify the health and safety training needs of our customers, who operate in a variety of industries. The goal is to provide effective and efficient upskilling solutions to our clients.

However, I think it is important for employers to remember that training is not a panacea for all safety problems. Some organisations tend to think training is the solution to every challenge, whether it’s a housekeeping issue, accident, auditing problem or client complaint. However, there are often alternative solutions to safety challenges, rather than just training.

For example, employees may understand their work and the safety procedures but are not acting in a safe way due to various situational or environmental constraints, such as insufficient resources or a perception that managers are more focused on things like production schedules.

So, in these kinds of situations, the challenge is more about addressing the behaviour of managers and workers and the accountability procedures in place around safety. So, the appropriate solutions might be more about ensuring behavioural change.

So, my role involves advising clients on the best solutions, which might be training or something else.

How do you help companies improve the health and safety competence of their employees?
It is important to remember that improving employee safety competence will not necessarily lead to improved safety performance for a business – if there are situational, environmental or organisational factors that prevent people applying their competence and knowledge on a day-to-day basis. For instance, if there are time pressures or a poor workplace culture where a blind eye is turned to short-cuts, workers may be unable to follow the safety procedures they have been taught.

When assessing a company’s competence and training needs, British Safety Council begins by identifying competence gaps within the organisation. We develop a ‘competency framework’ for the client, looking at managers’ and workers’ roles, their existing safety skills and their competency needs. For example, we look at who within the workforce might need auditing, inspection, report writing and legal knowledge skills. We consult the workforce – for example, through brainstorming workshops – to develop ‘ability statements’ for the competence employees at all levels need to acquire to work safely.

So, for instance, for a manager we would consider if they require safety auditing and inspection skills and if so, to what level and extent.

Once we have mapped the required competencies for all staff, we conduct a gap analysis to identify how approaches like training can fill any health and safety skills and knowledge gaps, and present the employer with possible solutions, which might include training.

What is your background and career in safety to date? What skills, qualifications and experience do you bring to the role of head of training?
I'm a mechanical engineer by profession and began my career in the construction industry, working in fields like boiler and power plant construction.

In 1982, I joined the construction division of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) as an assistant engineer and was assigned to a refinery construction project in Kuwait. The project manager desperately needed a safety inspector, so he asked me, “why don't you work as a safety inspector until our regular safety inspector arrives?”

The safety inspector never arrived, so I spent eight months completing the safety aspects of project. When I returned to India, I was the first person to be formally called a safety engineer in L&T. In fact, at that point in time, the formal role of a safety inspector was unheard of in the entire construction industry in India.

Following this, there was no turning back for me as I loved the job. So, I attended a one-year full-time industrial safety course run by the Government of India and did a six-week Industrial Safety Management training course through British Safety Council back in 2000.

I had two spells with L&T Larson & Toubro – the first from 1982 to 1995 and the second from 2013 to 2020.

I then joined British Safety Council as an associate and in the initial years undertook a lot of health and safety audits and training. However, in 2022, I took up my current full-time role as British Safety Council’s head of education in India.

What kind of training does British Safety Council provide in India and how is it delivered?
British Safety Council offers health, safety and environmental training through three main strands.

The first is ‘accredited’ training from the professional bodies for safety and sustainability practitioners. These are NEBOSH (National Examination Board for Occupational Safety and Health); IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health); and IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment).

These bodies are based in the UK but have an international reach, and British Safety Council is formally accredited and licensed to deliver a number of their internationally-recognised health, safety and sustainability courses and qualifications in the UK and elsewhere, including India. A popular example is the NEBOSH International Diploma for Occupational Health and Safety Management Professionals.

The second strand is British Safety Council’s own certified training courses. These include a very popular course covering health and safety awareness and management for senior leaders, such as directors and managers, as well as courses on topics such as risk assessment and risk management, internal safety auditing skills and incident investigation.

The third strand is e-learning, which consists of awareness courses and more advanced e-learning. Awareness courses run for around 30–45 minutes, and cover around 25 health, safety and sustainability topics – everything from managing fire safety to safe manual handling. They are designed to both teach managers and supervisors how to manage common health and safety risks and to build employee understanding about how to follow safe working practices.

All British Safety Council training, whether it is delivered face-to-face in a classroom setting, taught online or delivered via e-learning, is highly interactive, with opportunities for learners to communicate and interact with the trainer, the training programme and/or other delegates, where possible and appropriate. Courses also include gaming and exercises, and tutor support is available, both in the classroom and via email.

Digital learning also allows people to learn whenever and wherever it suits them, and at their own pace.

What kind of safety projects have you have recently delivered in India?
Due to commercial confidentiality, I cannot name specific clients.

However, British Safety Council is currently working with a large developer of commercial and residential property, helping them to develop their health and safety systems for eight projects. We are helping the organisation develop their safety policies, procedures, vision and mission and will then train their employees on all aspects of the safety management system and safe working practices.

We will shortly be conducting a gap analysis audit for this company, to identify the areas where they need assistance with their safety management system. Once any necessary improvements have been made, the company intends to undergo British Safety Council’s Five Star Health and Safety Management Audit, which benchmarks an organisation’s health and safety performance against internationally recognised best practice. The company’s aim is to achieve Five Stars, and if it reaches this level, it will be eligible to apply for the Sword of Honour award, which celebrates organisations that have reached the pinnacle of health and safety management.

Another customer is a renewable energy company, and we recently delivered a behavioural safety training programme for them. Our behavioural-based safety programme seeks to secure continual improvement in safety by positively influencing and encouraging safe attitudes and behaviours among the workforce.

To achieve this, we identify safety ambassadors at the ‘grassroots’ level in a company and train them to observe and identify unsafe and safe behaviour among colleagues. They also trained on holding effective ‘safety conversations’ with other workers. The ambassadors learn how to praise and reinforce safe behaviours but also understand how to have effective conversations to find out why workers are acting unsafely and encourage them to change their attitudes and behaviours.

The aim is to reinforce safe behaviour by appreciating and praising employees who work safely but to make employees who are not following safe procedures realise that they are adopting unsafe practices, and get to the root of why.

What are the key challenges, barriers and opportunities in your area of work?
I feel it is important to understand clients’ underlying needs when they request safety training programmes.

Sometimes, a client will simply ask for training without thinking about or explaining the reasons why they feel their workers require it. However, British Safety Council always first seeks to assess what has triggered the request for training, identify what the client hopes to achieve by providing training and then attempts to match the required outcome with the correct type of training. This might involve tweaking the training to suit the client’s specific needs.

I always recommend that employers take a proactive approach to training, looking to identify any gaps in workers and managers’ competencies in advance, rather than simply taking a reactive approach – for instance, because there has been a near miss or safety concern.

Currently, a significant proportion of the training British Safety Council delivers in India is to large corporates. However, we hope to deliver more training to medium and smaller companies, as they begin to increase their investment in health and safety.

In general, companies should view safety training as an investment, not an expense. This is because, when delivered correctly, and in line with any competency gaps, it delivers tangible improvements to safety performance. For example, the right training, delivered in the right way, can lead to genuine improvements in safety culture and behaviour in a business.

Do you think all Indian businesses provide effective safety training or is there room for improvement?
Fortunately, most of the major corporates in India do have a formal health and safety department or at the very least appoint one or more safety managers. This is driven in part by the requirements of legislation like the Factories Act and the Building and Other Construction Workers Act (BOCW).

Usually, the safety manager in a large company will provide some form of safety training to employees. However, the effectiveness of this training will largely depend on the manager’s competence.

Sometimes, training is simply provided to ‘meet targets’, without any serious consideration given to factors like the organisation’s actual training needs, who requires training and whether training will resolve the problems the business is experiencing.

It is therefore essential safety practitioners carefully assess their company’s training needs, which means considering the existing and desired safety skills and knowledge of employees. The training should them seek to ‘close this gap’. Also, it is vital that training is delivered with genuine passion and enthusiasm.

How can an employer review their training needs and the effectiveness of their existing training?   
When designing training, employers should always think about the desired outcome, as this will help when considering how to measure the effectiveness of the training that is delivered.

For example, if the objective is to improve the knowledge of the participants about a specific risk, hazard or safe working process, pre- and post-training tests or questionnaires are a useful way of assessing any improvements in workers’ knowledge and attitudes.

If the objective is to improve a particular skill among the learners, a practical, post-training test will help check whether the participants have acquired the skill or not. Sometimes, the objective of a training programme could be to positively influence the attitude, behaviour or culture of the employees, more than improve their knowledge or skill building. In such cases, a reaction-level questionnaire administered at the end of the training should help assess whether the training has had the desired effective.    

What kind of training and communication skills do managers require to lead on safety and inspire workers to always act safely? 
One of the most effective ways to inspire and encourage employees to always follow safety rules is for managers to set a positive example by always following the rules themselves. Managers should also constantly be on the look-out for opportunities to appreciate and recognise employees who always comply with the safety rules. At the same time, managers and supervisors must always monitor for non-compliance with the rules and if they discover instances of staff acting in an unsafe fashion, they should have an effective dialogue with them to identify the reasons for their behaviour and ways of ensuring it doesn’t happen again. 

Another important aspect of achieving high standards of safety is ensuring workers are genuinely involved in ways of improving health and safety at work. Employers should therefore create a positive, no-blame culture, where staff feel confident to report unsafe conditions, unsafe practices and near misses, without fear they will be punished or reprimanded. In fact, employees should receive thanks and appreciation for reporting safety concerns and suggesting improvements.

What tips would you give to managers on how to stamp out persistent breaches of safety rules by workers? 
One of the fundamental principles of behavioural science is the fact that employees will very rarely wilfully violate safety rules. This is because, if the worker has been given suitable instruction and training, they will be fully aware that they could be harmed if their failure to follow the rules leads to a safety incident. So, if workers understand the risks and how to work safely, there is usually a valid reason why they have breached the rules and failed to follow instructions.

For example, perhaps most of their co-workers are also breaching the same rule and it has become a ‘routine’ and ‘acceptable’ practice.

On the other hand, it may be that, unless a safety rule is violated, the work cannot be completed in the allotted time. For instance, if there is a 20mph limit for workplace vehicles, but a driver cannot complete their work in the required time period, they will be tempted to drive at 30mph.

Managers and supervisors therefore need to consider whether the unsafe practice has arisen because managers have failed to properly spot and police unsafe behaviour, or whether unrealistic work schedules and time pressures are resulting in staff breaching safety rules to get the work completed in time.

What are the key health and safety metrics an organisation should track and measure?
For some organisations, measuring health and safety performance focuses on assessing accident and incident records and trends. Some organisations also seek to reward and celebrate ‘zero accident’ records, measuring them in ‘accident-free million man-hours’. However, one possible drawback to this approach is that it can potentially encourage employees to ‘hide’ accidents to achieve or maintain a zero or low accident rate. It also focuses on measuring failures (when they occur) rather than successes.

These types of metrics are classed as ‘lagging’ or ‘reactive’ indicators. However, it is a good idea to establish and monitor ‘leading’ or ‘proactive’ indicators, such as the number of hours of safety training employees receive each year; the number of unsafe conditions and unsafe practices reported or escalated by employees; and the number of unsafe conditions or deviations from the rules identified and rectified.

In short, it makes sense to measure the ‘efforts’ of the organisation and its employees in preventing safety incidents rather than just the ‘results’ of efforts to improve safety, such as numbers of accidents and near misses. In other words, organisations should shift their focus from ‘location-based’ safety performance to ‘individual’ safety performance and move from ‘reactive’ to ‘proactive’ monitoring indicators.

What kind of safety training do you expect to see expanding in India?  
In general, most organisations in India focus their safety training on frontline employees, followed by middle level employees, such as supervisors. However, there is insufficient focus on safety training for senior employees, such as directors and high-level managers.

However, if India is to secure further improvements in its occupational safety performance, this needs to change. This is because if senior leaders receive the right training – which teaches them about the importance of safety and how good safety performance can result in both human and business benefits for the organisation – they will demand that managers seek to address safety challenges and achieve genuine improvements in safety performance.

The focus of safety training also needs to shift from ‘how’ to comply to ‘why’ workers should comply.
Often, when delivering instruction and training, managers simply communicate that employees ‘must’ comply with the instructions, without explaining the reasons ‘why’ the task must be performed in the required fashion, and without allowing staff to ask questions. A focus on ‘why’ employees should follow the training is more likely to encourage staff to buy-in to following the rules, as they will understand the need for them.

Finally, the growth and expansion of new and emerging technologies mean that safety training
is going to undergo significant change in the near future, in terms of the content and the delivery methods.

British Safety Council is partnering with the Work Fair and Free Foundation to improve occupational safety and health awareness among migrant labour communities in India. What does this involve?
Work Fair and Free is a not-for-profit knowledge institution that strives to ensure that informal labour migration becomes more secure and dignified. It combines research, policy work and teaching and training to achieve an equitable and dignified world of work for migrant labouring communities in India.
Migrant workers are often exploited by employers and Work Fair and Free has community trainers who visit small and medium-sized workplaces where migrants are employed to advise and support the employer to improve health and safety. The trainers conduct free workplace inspections and provide advice to employers on how to improve safety, such as by guarding machinery. They also provide free safety training to workers, so the migrant workers understand the risks and how to keep themselves and others safe.

British Safety Council is therefore supporting Work Free and Fair by providing training and support to its community trainers, so they can provide more effective safety training to migrant workers on the ground.

We have developed a training pack that consists of physical cue cards and display boards, covering a variety of safety topics. The trainers will likely be delivering the training in small workplaces without projectors suitable for making PowerPoint-type presentations, so the cue cards and display boards will be an ideal tool for delivering simple training sessions.

What single piece of advice would you give to employers for improving safety? 
It is crucial that employers believe in their employees and trust them.

Workers should be empowered to report their safety concerns without fear of punishment and should be encouraged to participate in decisions affecting their health and safety. Workers usually have a great understanding of their jobs and the risks involved, so their suggestions for safety improvements are likely to be practical and feasible.

Also, if workers are genuinely involved in managing safety risks and making decisions about their safety, they are much more likely to take ownership of the agreed procedures, as they have been genuinely involved in developing them.

For more information on British Safety Council’s services see:
britsafe.in
T: +91 22414 37969
[email protected]

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