SAFEQUAL News & Blog

How to make the right choice when choosing your Health and Safety training provider

Health and safety courses can be provided by a variety of organisations, from trade associations to employer bodies such as Chambers of Commerce, charities, further education colleges, independent health and safety consultants, private training companies or training brokers.

Here’s what you need to know and ask

Whether you are an employer or looking for personal career development - choosing an appropriate health and safety training course for your staff is critical, but the sheer number of providers offering their services can make it an overwhelming decision, often leading to choice-paralysis. Like any other business, there are great training providers and poor ones - if you don’t know what questions to ask, you could pay the price and get poor quality training with hidden costs.

3 Killer questions to ask when reviewing your Health and Safety training provider options

1) Who is delivering the course and what experience do they have?

Professional trainers can deliver any course, however to get the maximum value there is no substitute for experience. What qualifications and real-world experience does the trainer have? Plus what support is there to help you – like out of hours telephone support, unique training materials and their pass rates.

2) What materials are included within the price?

One ‘cheat’ we’ve discovered is that some training providers use old materials, so the reference books are out of date. Some ‘loan you’ the reference materials and some ‘sell’ you the materials on your first day. With health and safety, it’s the law - and the law changes and the reference materials are continually updated to reflect this. Make sure you are comparing ‘apples with apples’ when making your choice based upon cost.

3) Are they the training provider or a broker?

There’s nothing wrong with brokers, there are some really good brokers - but brokers work on a slim margin, they aren’t regulated by the accreditation and awarding body (e.g. NEBOSH, CITB, IOSH). Understand what value they are adding. Question what guarantees you have from them taking payment to delivering the course (e.g. What happens if they go out of business? Which is more likely as they work on very slim margins). Establish any claims they are making about pass rates - as this is unlikely to be regulated and could be false.

Don’t be afraid to ask your provider to show relevant qualifications and demonstrate their experience and success rates. Due diligence is essential if you are to get the best training and value for money.

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