Rank: New forum user 
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Hello, We have a Maintenance Technician who recently started with us who has many years of experience but who is quite new to the world of H&S law and requirements that an organisation who aim for the the highest H&S compliance would expect. He could benefit from a course that could touch on various regulations relavant to the types of practical maintenance tasks that he would typically be expected to undertake. Using ladders, power tools, COSHH, manual handling, working in public areas, good housekeeping, etc. The aim of this is to try to gain a solid understanding of legal requirements to protect himself and others. I have done SMSTS courses in the past which at a supervisory level even though it is heavuly construction focussed was really useful, but I dont htin kthis is the right level here. I also don't think a IOSH Managing Safely course is going to be practical enough in terms of varying risk areas. Does any one know of any suitable courses that I could put forward for our Maintenance Technician.
Your recommendations are muc appreciated.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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On the one hand you mention "practical" but then talk about a solid legal understanding these are very much two ends of a spectra - do you want the practical aspect of mounting abrasive wheels or someone converse in the development of the legislation that resulted in the requirement for training to mount abrasive wheels? The answer could be several one/two days specific courses with various providers or a single block/day release.
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 2 users thanked Roundtuit for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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On the one hand you mention "practical" but then talk about a solid legal understanding these are very much two ends of a spectra - do you want the practical aspect of mounting abrasive wheels or someone converse in the development of the legislation that resulted in the requirement for training to mount abrasive wheels? The answer could be several one/two days specific courses with various providers or a single block/day release.
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2 users thanked Roundtuit for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hi Cristina I am with Rountuit on this. How practical v how legalistic or a mixture of both. Perhaps your maintenance technician knows much more than you are giving them credit for. Possibly your starting point would be to ask them a few QQ about their job and what they see as the risks and how to mitigate them. Might be that you find only a few gaps that need to be filled. They might even have their own sensible wish list for training! Good luck, Peter
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1 user thanked peter gotch for this useful post.
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Rank: New forum user
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Hi Peter, So more practical - as in this person is on the tools working mainly alone on tasks - he is not a sueprvisor or a team he is a sole maintenance technician and therefor we would like him to have solid awareness of the risks of the tasks he undertakes, be able to risk assess and also understand good practice.
Does that make it clearer what we are after? It is not legistaltive in the sense that i need him to quote legislation and write proceudres and polciies - it is to protect himself from risks for the tasks that he carries out so that he can work safely without constant spervision and checking, thank you
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Rank: Super forum user
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Sounds to me that he needs training in YOUR safe systems - not sure any external course could meet the requiremets. You may find some specific short course, or maunfacture training but will depend on the type of tools they are using.
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1 user thanked HSSnail for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hi Cristina I think that Brian might be on the mark - what are YOUR systems? ....and perhaps some consideration on those tasks which only put the technician at risk and those which put others at risk - you mention the "public". ...and perhaps some consideration of the tasks that might flag up a warning to him - inappropriate for lone working (even if those assigning the work may not have recognised this!). Whilst we should all be wary of assuming anything, I would be surprised if this technician doesn't fully understand the basics of e.g. working from a ladder AND quite possibly has a good idea where a ladder is not the right means of access. So, there probably is a need for some training needs (gap) analysis however informally it might be done, i.e. try and find out what he already knows against what you want him to know! Some of it might be as mundane as pointing him towards where the manual is for that little aluminium tower scaffold you have stored away in some dark cupboard - and telling him that you DO actually already have that tower scaffold. P
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1 user thanked peter gotch for this useful post.
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Rank: New forum user
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Thank you - I think that is a really good point. I think it is a culture thing. Risk Assessments have been written with him for all his routine maintenance tasks that require it but if a task falls outside of those risk assessments (unplanned/reactive) he may not think to approach us as to a SSOW and would go full steam ahead without a risk assessment (dynamic or written) so I am conscious that his H&S trianing could use a refresh. I will ask his line manager to consider the gaps and take it from there. thanks for help.
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Rank: Super forum user
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In my humble experience most people, what to “do the right thing” and that includes health and safety. So firstly you(ie the organisation) needs to be clear what doing the “right thing is”. Is it simply following rules and policies or is about empowering staff to use apply their own understanding to health and safety maters. The example you gave of not knowing what to do if your RAMS has gaps in it is very appropriate. If they simply follow rules, they simply need to be referring everything outside the RAMS to their supervisor and managers must take the decision on what to do next. On the other hand if you are about empowering your staff then they must be allowed to take decision but there must be a system for reviewing those decisions and, if they are in hindsight are correct, incorporating them into your H&S system. Simply telling them that he might be prosecuted under Section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act does not really help.
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Rank: New forum user
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Thank you. I think I have not made myself clear. We work closely with this person. He is good at what he does but his awareness and application of good H&S practices is lacking. He has been used to working on his own in previous jobs with little or no guidance or supervision and would think nothing of doing jobs the quickest way rather than thinking through the task first and taking all precautions and controls.
We have worked through RAs with him, with his input and understanding. So really what his line manager has concerns about it that his H&S knowledge/awareness could do with improving so that he really gets why we are asking him to take these extra steps and basically to chaneg his mindset. So that is why the type of training we thought could be useful (in addition to in house further training on how to appraoch a RA would be some sort of technical training if that is the right word which is desgined for non managers but those who are actually carrying out drilling, cutting, minor repair works etc as to various good practice. I dont think something like this exists as perhaps it is too bespoke.
But as he has never had any formal H&S training I think something like this would be beneficial.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Super forum user
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You are faced with the dilemma of many. I compare your worker to the many caretakers / community wardens / handypersons I encounter, carrying out all manner of tasks, difficult to specify in advance, impossible to pre-prepare written safe systems for most.
H&S or trade training provision tends to be topic based, for a generic audience, and expanded to fill the space available (half-day, day). For a school caretaker, sending each one on a course for ladders (WaH), fire safety, CoSHH (for cleaning chemicals), manual handling, electrical and asbestos awareness, use of tools (usually hand-held) - well that's already a weeks worth, and most of the content is actually not that relevant.
Maybe steer away from trying to have formal solutions for everything, and think about setting up a coaching routine where a particular set of circumstances, work situations etc can be talked through with someone, ideally with relevant experience, (that might be hard) and the risks discussed, with possible or actual solutions. You are aiming for a competent worker. As many have pointed out, it sounds like the worker already has plenty of competence, you are just not sure about the range. They need to be competent to make safe decisions. Which is another way of saying 'assess risk' but in an informal and adaptable way. You dont need a written risk assessment for every single job. Otheerwise, where would it stop? PS. I had to do the test post first as frequently finding my carefully considered responses fail to be posted for some techie reason.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Aud - the answer to your "techie" issue is to draft your response in MS Word (or similar) and then cut and paste. I do admit to only doing this quite rarely - and it is very annoying when you have thought about what to say and then spent 10 minutes typing an answer only for the Forums to crash!
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1 user thanked peter gotch for this useful post.
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