What is Compliance Training?

Health and Safety

Health and safety has been a mandatory form of compliance training since 1974. It exists to ensure staff don’t harm themselves at work. Fines are steep for violating this act and should be a priority compliance training.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is a vital form of compliance training. It comes into effect if you work with or come into contact with children and vulnerable adults. The Children’s Act (2004) requires that businesses train staff on how to recognise children and vulnerable adults who show signs of being in need. It also requires that employees be trained that they have the tools of knowledge to safeguard those in need.  

First Aid

First Aid training is mandatory to ensure you can help people who are ill or have suffered. This obligation comes from the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations of 1981. 

Fire Safety

Fire safetytraining requires businesses to create appropriate fire safety drills for their employees and train all responsible persons on fire safety awareness. This compliance training has been mandatory since 2005.

HACCP & COSHH

HACCP & COSHH covers hazardous materials. If your business works with food, compliance training must be provided on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point principles (HACCP). If any work is done with hazardous substances, training on the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH)

Data Training

Data training has become necessary as more regulations emerge, in recent years, restricting how your business can store people’s personal information. It is essential to ensure training is provided as even minor data breaches can lead to penalties of up to £10 million, with serious offences being double those fines.

Why Should Businesses do Compliance Training?

To quote former deputy attorney general Paul McNulty, “If you think compliance is expensive, try non-compliance.”

To protect your business and your staff

Why is it worthwhile to invest in compliance training? There are many reasons, but first and foremost, it protects businesses and staff from legal prosecution and fines. Comprehensive training can help defend a company from liability for accidents or violations. Inadequate training can fail to prepare your team for the risks of their work and can put the company back into liability. If a staff member can prove they were not properly and consistently given compliance training, fines can be transferred to the company. It is, therefore, the duty of the organisation to ensure that laws and regulations are being adhered to in their business. 

Using services such as tayl training can create easy bite-sized courses that repeat through the year. This can help to keep your staff informed with more manageable and engaging training.

To help your employees

Staff don’t want to break the rules. They don’t want to make themselves unsafe. Compliance training can help them to feel prepared. It can help them to understand their jobs better. It teaches them to identify violations and prevent them.

Taking compliance training seriously creates a better work environment. It shows employees that the business is proactive in protecting them and values their wellbeing. 

What Makes Good Compliance Training?

Short and sweet

Compliance training can be complicated. It is information heavy and important for your staff to know. So, it’s to make it easy to learn. Keep the training short. Cut it up into manageable chunks. Have the content in multiple sections that staff can revisit. You want your staff to feel comfortable engaging with the lessons. 

Make it accessible

Another way to make your staff engage is to make the training accessible. For example, online courses can be picked up and engaged at your staff’s leisure. No longer should they be at work on a specific day to listen to a one hour chat that they’ll tune out of. Instead, training can be a continuous process that they engage with when they feel ready.

Don’t be afraid to use multi-media tools, such as video or interactive segments.

Games

Create or find training that asks the trainee to be an active participant. Gamification can be a great tool to engage people. Have them answer questions on what they would do in a scenario. Having staff utilise what they’ve learned can help them remember it and show you what is sticking.

Stories

Have team members share stories about compliance and let them know about your compliance experiences. Real-life events can give meaning to the training. People will question the purpose of this law or that regulation, and these stories can provide the answers. They see how it all fits into the real world.

Regular assessments and tasks

Compliance training shouldn’t just be about the courses. Testing your staff on their knowledge can help you to see what’s sticking. Create short questions for the training session to see what they’ve retained. It is also a good idea, like an MOT, to check regularly how your staff are doing. Organise times when you shadow them and give positive feedback on correctly followed training.

Compliance training can be a useful tool to help your staff understand what you want. While it can help protect your business and staff from liability, it can also show them how much you value their safety and place in the company.