The demand for safety training in the UK is steadily increasing. In the UK, as with many other countries, firms are required, by law, to keep their workers safe in the workplace. They also have to ensure that their staff are trained to carry out their tasks safely even outside of the regular work environment. These laws have brought fatal injuries in the workplace down from 300+ in 1992/93 to just 173 during 2011/12.
More often than not, the necessary training is relatively easy to manage in house. For example, a firm who has all of their personnel based in an office will only need to focus their training on avoiding repetitive strain injuries, fire drills and basic trip hazards. However, not all work environments are as contained as this; some will require more thorough training.
Training for hazardous work environments
In the modern world, a surprising number of people have to deal with life-threatening safety risks at work every day. Factories and building sites are good examples of this.
However, there are groups of workers who are at greater risk simply because they work in especially dangerous and unforgiving environments. For example, an accident at sea is far more likely to result in death simply because medical help is so far away. For this reason, people who work in these environments have to undergo specialist maritime training such as a STCW95 course. Safety officers who work in this environment are also required to undergo Ships Security Officer (SSO) training.
