Staff Skills Training

Staff Skills Training in Our Workplace.

It’s important to include training in your business planning and budgeting. You should also consider whether changes in your business may require you to offer training.

As an employer, you are legally obliged to make sure you provide staff with work health and safety training so they know how to do their jobs safely. You may also need to provide industry-specific training relating to your business.

External training and courses

You can send staff to external training and courses, or you can get an external provider to present training at your business. These opportunities allow for very specific learning outcomes.

Before you can offer external training and courses to your staff or consider including them in an employee’s professional development plan.

You and your employees may be eligible for a range of funding and assistance programs that support skills and training.

Training and instruction needs to be easy to understand, even for those whose first language is not English and have additional needs such as literacy and hearing difficulties.

You need to :

• undertake induction and workplace safety training for new workers
• train workers for the specific tasks they will have to perform
• commit to appropriate supervision of workers
• support regular refresher training.

Your local Jobs and Skills Centre can also provide advice and assistance with maximising the potential of your workforce.

Developing your employees’ skills through training can improve your business and help it stay competitive.

Other benefits of training include:

• greater staff retention and commitment
• a qualified workforce
• increased productivity
• improved quality
• less wastage.

For your employees, you must provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and free of risks to health, so far as is reasonably practicable. As part of this you must, so far as is reasonably practicable:

• Provide and maintain safe plant (machinery and equipment).
• Provide and maintain safe systems of work – for example, controlling entry to high-risk areas and providing systems to prevent falls from heights.
• Ensure the safe use, handling, storage or transport of plant or substances.
• Keep workplaces that you manage and control in a safe condition, free of risks to health (for example, ensure fire exits aren’t blocked, and the worksite is generally tidy).
• Provide suitable facilities for welfare at any workplace you manage and control.
• Give your employees the necessary information, instruction, training or supervision to enable them to do their work in a way that is safe and without risks to health.