What Are The Benefits Of Health & Safety e-Learning?

E-learning has been a method of training that has been used for many years, but it has become particularly popular since the COVID-19 lockdowns, where it became a much more practical solution. It can be a flexible and scalable way to learn that is cost-effective for businesses or individuals, ensuring legal compliance and efficiency.

There are a number of benefits to health and safety e-learning, so to explain further, Health and Safety specialists, AW Safety share some of the key reasons why H&S online training is something your business should be implementing.

What is e-learning?

E-learning systems are based online and provide a format for completing a course or training using just a digital device. This eliminates the need for any in-person training and can therefore be carried out in almost any environment.

The courses will often include things like videos, infographics, visual demonstrations and presentations to convey the information and are usually followed by quizzes to check the understanding of the learner.

This means that the courses can complement a wide range of learning styles and can ensure information is delivered in the most effective way.

Some e-learning courses can also be instructor-led with scheduled live presentations from educators, whilst others are ready to be accessed at any time of the day or night, allowing learners to progress through them at their own pace.

Flexibility

Most health and safety training is essential for the well-being of employees and customers as well as legal compliance, so it is important that it is completed as quickly as possible. E-learning offers a flexible solution that allows training to take place in a variety of different ways.

Whilst in person, training must take place at a scheduled time and date, that can be disruptive to work schedules, e-learning can be completed at any time. If the course is being completed during work hours, this makes it possible to stagger the training so that employees take time out from their usual roles at different points.

It also means that training can take place at home around both work and family commitments. This helps to ensure that training is undertaken as promptly as possible, without getting in the way of any urgent tasks in the workplace.

Cost effective

E-learning is thought to be one of the most cost-effective ways to learn, as it tends to be less expensive than in person training that requires you to pay for instructors or hire rooms. As there is less disruption to working schedules in order to complete an e-learning course, it also minimises any losses that you might experience on a work front.

This allows employers to offer a much wider range of training for their staff, as it is possible to send multiple employees on multiple courses without incurring huge levels of expense. This is particularly important in the world of health and safety, where you might need to cover different subjects and certain members of staff will be required to have specialist knowledge depending on their role.

Scalability

One of the biggest benefits of e-learning is that it is ideal whether you want to train an entire department full of people or just one. With in-person training, it is often not worth embarking on the training until you have enough people to attend, but with e-learning new starters can embark on a training course as soon as possible.

This means that as your business grows, your training needs are scalable, and you can ensure everyone has the right skills for the job and that all health and safety training is undertaken as a matter of urgency.

Reliable solutions

When you book in-person training, you can never be entirely confident of the standard of education that you will receive. This will depend on the trainer, how experienced they are and what kind of day they are having.

However, an e-learning course will have been put together over a period of time and tested thoroughly to ensure every element of it is accurate and compliant with legal standards.

Once it has been published, it will not change unless certain facts need to be updated, which means it offers an extremely reliable form of learning. This ensures that every employee will receive the same level of education no matter when they take the course so you can be sure everybody is working to the same standards with a full understanding of your health and safety requirements.

Accessibility

The importance of health and safety training means that it must be accessible to everyone, regardless of any limitations or disabilities that they may have. Most e-learning courses have been designed to ensure that they are accessible to employees with a wide range of needs.

This means you can be confident that all employees are able to engage with the training on offer and can receive the same high standard of education irrespective of any challenges they may face.

Real world relevance

E-learning courses can include a variety of different materials, allowing them to show real world scenarios that apply to their health and safety training. This makes it much easier to demonstrate how the information in the course relates to their specific roles and can help to solidify their understanding.

When training feels more relevant, employees will be able to retain the knowledge better and apply it in the workplace more effectively.

Keeping up to date

Health and safety regulations change frequently, and all businesses must stay on top of them in order to be legally compliant. An e-learning course can be quickly and easily updated to accommodate any new rules, and you can then ensure that all employees take the new training or simply the updated module to make sure that they are on top of the changes.

Health and safety in the workplace is incredibly important and businesses must ensure that their staff are fully trained in all relevant aspects of it. E-learning is now proving to be one of the quickest, easiest and most cost-effective ways for everyone to receive a high standard of education as a practical solution for learners and businesses alike.