How to make online safety training more than a ‘box tick’ exercise

Online safety training is an important part of an employer’s health and safety toolkit.

Used appropriately, it can be a cost-effective, quick and easy way to instruct employees in safe ways of working and to remind them and visitors to the workplace of their obligations with regards to their own safety and that of those around them.

However, the nature of online learning means that online safety training can be deployed inappropriately or deliberately misused, rendering it at worst ineffective and at worst downright dangerous.

In this blog, we explore how employers can make sure their online safety training doesn’t become just a ‘box tick’ exercise but instead contributes effectively to making the workplace a safer place to be.

The benefits of online safety training

In general, workplaces in the UK are getting safer, with the number of people killed or injured at work having been on a downwards trend for over a decade. But, with 138 people killed and more than 600,000 injured at work in 2023/24, there remains much more to do.

Increasingly popular in recent years, online safety training where topics are addressed via the likes of online videos, click-through interactive workbooks, and quizzes – or a series thereof – has proven to be a particularly effective tool for businesses in helping to reduce accidents and injuries.

Among the benefits of online safety training are:

Low cost
Compared to classroom training and other in-person methods, online safety training is a cost-effective way to deliver learning to a large number of people within a short space of time.

Flexible
Online delivery allows training to be undertaken from any location, at a time to suit the individual.

Convenient
With no need to travel offsite to attend safety training, and able to complete tasks from their desk, employees need take no more time out from work tasks than necessary. Assessments of competency may be incorporated into initial delivery, reducing time lags and allowing for instant feedback for employers.

Multi-faceted
With online safety training, instructional content may take one or a variety of forms depending on best fit, company culture and the needs of individual learners.

Remains current
Online training modules may be quickly and easily amended to allow for new developments, changes in legislation and updated statistics. This helps ensure workers are always operating compliantly, in line with evolving sector practices.

When online safety training goes wrong

Unfortunately, online training doesn’t work in all circumstances.

It is only theoretical and cannot replace practical learning when it comes to the need to develop physical skills and train muscle memory.

If the subject matter is particularly complex and the delivery is not as it should be, online training can lead to misinformation or confusion, with no human oversight to check understanding or answer queries.

What’s more, the unsupervised nature of the format leaves potential for deliberate misuse and ‘gaming’ by disengaged employees.

Tips for better online safety training

With all the above in mind, here are our top tips for effective online safety training:

#1 Consider your topic
Not all safety topics lend themselves to online learning. It is best suited to relatively simple, low-risk topics, and should be avoided for subjects where the potential risks arising from a training lapse are particularly high. It can be especially effective as an engaging method of reminding employees of information they already know, ensuring they don’t fall victim to complacency on the job.

#2 Use in combination
Maybe your topic doesn’t quite fit the ideal criteria for using online training, but that doesn’t mean online learning cannot be part of the equation. Why not consider using online training to introduce the topic and pave the way for more detailed, practical training at a later date?

#3 Employ good design
Best practice in online learning suggests modules should be simple yet engaging, employing a mixture of formats such as online videos, click-through interactive workbooks, and quizzes. There should also be an effective end-point assessment to provide instant feedback to the employer on the effectiveness of the knowledge transfer. Avoid simple ‘box tick’ tests providing a pass/fail at the end, especially if employees can attempt these multiple times in succession until they pass. If in doubt, a good online learning provider will be able to help design something that works for your needs.

#4 Consider non-compliance
For every person that completes online training on time and to a high standard, there will doubtless be at least one who tries to ‘game’ the system in some way. Examples of gaming include allowing instructional videos to play in the background without paying attention to them, clicking through workbooks without reading the content, and relying on common sense and guesswork to pass the end-point assessment.

In order to avoid this, be sure to…

#5 Maintain standards
Just because safety training takes place online, doesn’t mean you should lower your standards. Consider how you will ensure that everyone in your organisation completes the training and is suitably upskilled. Follow up with those who have completed the course to ensure it has been effective, and to cover off any questions they may have. Likewise, make sure there are consequences for those who fail to complete it or who cannot demonstrate the required level of knowledge after having apparently done so.

Employers have a legal obligation to ensure their workforce is appropriately trained. In the event of an incident, any investigation will explore what steps were taken to provide instruction and training in vital topics, as well as the effectiveness of the training offered.

Following our tips above should help make sure your online safety training transcends the ‘box tick’ exercise to actually help keep your workforce safer.