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Kelly44336  
#1 Posted : 10 June 2010 20:18:01(UTC)
Rank: New forum user
Kelly44336

If an employee starts in a new position with the company is it practical to train them on day one??? What if they leave or dont fit in, the company could loose a lot of money... ££££ Basically we have an employee who has moved roles following redundancy and has been taken from an admin role and placed in a warehouse, this new job clearly involves lots of lift and so on... the employee did not return to work after their first day on the job. They called in saying they had hurt their back. Should we have trained them yet or not???????
Alex Whittle  
#2 Posted : 10 June 2010 21:14:03(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Alex Whittle

Duty of care starts the minute they enter into a contract of employment.
frankc  
#3 Posted : 10 June 2010 21:21:38(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
frankc

Kelly44336 wrote:
If an employee starts in a new position with the company is it practical to train them on day one??? What if they leave or dont fit in, the company could loose a lot of money... ££££ Basically we have an employee who has moved roles following redundancy and has been taken from an admin role and placed in a warehouse, this new job clearly involves lots of lift and so on... the employee did not return to work after their first day on the job. They called in saying they had hurt their back. Should we have trained them yet or not??????
Would you have sent them up on to the roof without work @ height training? You shouldn't have expected him to do a job you admit 'clearly involves a lot of lifting' without ensuring he knew how to lift safely....and when to avoid lifting.
Steve Sedgwick  
#4 Posted : 10 June 2010 21:31:23(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Steve Sedgwick

It is good management practice to draw up a training plan and put him with an experienced person that you can trust to keep him under close personal supervision for a while. Just think of the in-efficiencies that are created by not ensuring that he knows what and how to do it. From a HS point of view I bet there are many other significant HS risks inn the warehouse than manual handling. Steve
Alex Whittle  
#5 Posted : 10 June 2010 21:46:42(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Alex Whittle

Manual handling awareness training can vary from £65-£110 per day per attendee. This would have probably been the more cost effective option, as you would have discharged your duty of care. The fact that he/she now has an iffy back could cost substantially more than a one day course ( if it lands in the lap of the ambulance chasers). Points of reference; HSWA S2.2(c) information, instruction, training & supervision and the manual handling regs. Forgive the saying "If you think H&S is expensive, consider the cost of an accident".
freelance safety  
#6 Posted : 11 June 2010 12:31:17(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
freelance safety

You can get MH training even cheaper than that, both accredited and in-house bespoke by chartered practitioners.
SP900308  
#7 Posted : 11 June 2010 12:32:12(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
SP900308

Kelly, Your company has taken someone from an admin role and placed them in a warehouse. An office based environment is quite different from a warehouse environment. Aside from the obvious warehouse risk issues, lack of training etc, has your company checked for any pre-existing health issues that could have been triggered by the role change? Just a thought. Put up that paper umbrella!
PJG  
#8 Posted : 13 June 2010 23:06:52(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
PJG

Quite simply Kelly, Yes you should have trained. Basic manual handling principles are what they say, Basic. If followed there should be no reason for injury incurred unless it is behaviour related... I note you say they were moved across from admin ... I would suggest that admin staff are also likely to incur manual handling injuries i.e box of A4 paper... regularly lifted in admin environments... could easily cause injury. We (my company - Warehousing & distribution) have introduced a policy that ALL staff receive basic manual handling training. Injuries and claims have dropped very, very significantly in the last 12 months... worth a look to all I would recommend!
ianjones  
#9 Posted : 15 June 2010 07:49:39(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
ianjones

Kelly Without doubt you must train them on their first day 2 issues arise here 1 is that all workers must be trained to carry out the task expected of them (management regs) 2 is that the company must make a judgement based on reasonably practicable whether a cost can justified in not training or providing a safety related item, in this case i would definitely say not as in all things- if you dont train on the 1st day, do you train after one week one month...
118ncg  
#10 Posted : 15 June 2010 08:21:05(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
118ncg

As this person has been moved internally look at his training record.. They may already have had some basic training..Check with previous managers....... Yes training should happen.. For those that state it should happen on day one think again... You can overload people with information think about the your first day (Policy Proceedure,Fire Exits, First Aid, Who's who, Where the toilet, etc.) thus the training becomes usless.. You have to have a structured approached.. Day 1 familieristion the basics. Then go on from there
frankc  
#11 Posted : 15 June 2010 09:28:30(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
frankc

118ncg wrote:
As this person has been moved internally look at his training record.. They may already have had some basic training..Check with previous managers....... Yes training should happen.. For those that state it should happen on day one think again... You can overload people with information think about the your first day (Policy Proceedure,Fire Exits, First Aid, Who's who, Where the toilet, etc.) thus the training becomes usless.. You have to have a structured approached.. Day 1 familieristion the basics. Then go on from there
Quite agree with you there...unless day one also includes lots of lifting. Then the company need to ensure your safety.
Dave C  
#12 Posted : 15 June 2010 20:30:44(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Dave C

We revised our training schedule to include manual handling straight after the h and s induction due to nature of work at our site. Beforehand manual handling training was carried out when we had a gathered a few employees "to do" but we now incorporate that on the back of induction before they even get into the workplace and that has really benfitted both our employees and us as a company. Agree there is a lot to take in on first day of employment but we use a mentor/buddy system for the first couple of weeks while they settle in -relevant training is the priority.
Kelly44336  
#13 Posted : 21 June 2010 14:46:50(UTC)
Rank: New forum user
Kelly44336

Ok... They have been issued with an induction approx 12 months ago and this induction covered the basic manual handling info. The staff member also has a company handbook, again containing info on MH.
frankc  
#14 Posted : 21 June 2010 20:13:11(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
frankc

Kelly44336 wrote:
Ok... They have been issued with an induction approx 12 months ago and this induction covered the basic manual handling info. The staff member also has a company handbook, again containing info on MH.
Did he have an induction covering 'basic manual handling info' or did he have suitable and sufficient Manual Handling Training? My money is on the former.
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