Risks increased by unaccredited in-house training

Opting for in-house training could unnecessarily increase the risk of a workplace incident, explains RTITB.

“Companies offering in-house training are taking a big risk and may be compromising safety and compliance,” warns Laura Nelson, managing director for RTITB, the UK’s leading workplace transport training regulatory body.

“Unfortunately, it can often seem like everything is ok until there is an incident. Only then, when the details are being looked at in much more detail, do the issues and failings of in-house training become apparent.”

Accredited training is externally verified and confirmed as meeting the requirement in PUWER Regulation 9* of ‘adequate training’.

“Even if the in-house forklift training programme includes delivery of a course by an RTITB registered instructor, this does not by default provide training at the level compliant with PUWER,” explains Laura.

Likewise, companies using accredited training organisations to deliver an ‘in-house only’ certificate are also not providing training at an independently verified standard.”

“RTITB accreditation of a company enables the business to deliver training that is compliant with relevant legislation and Codes of Practice,” says Laura, explaining that in the event of an incident, RTITB accreditation also means businesses and their employees can prove high quality training has been provided and that appropriate safety measures have been taken. And in turn reduce costs and improve efficiencies in their business.

Accredited training offers a clear record of what was covered in the training and the duration of the training, as well as information to confirm that testing took place under the proper conditions. Conversely, in-house courses may not cover all of the required topics for skilled operation and safety and in addition, the testing process cannot be guaranteed to have been administered correctly and fairly. In the event of an accident, in-house training may not have the protection of a clear audit trail demonstrating that they have done what is required by law.

Annual audits carried out by RTITB on all accredited training providers help to monitor compliance and identify any areas for improvement.

“We want companies to know both the potential risks of in-house training as well as the benefits of accredited training so that they can choose the training that provides the safest workplace transport operation possible,” concludes Laura.