Provision of instruction and training for staff, volunteers and others is necessary to achieve competent, healthy and safe work performance. Management is responsible for the approval and allocation of training resources.
The Workplace Health and Safety Act 2011 
states that information, instruction, training and supervision are to be provided to ensure health and safety.
This sequence of information, instruction, training and supervision is examined during incident investigations to determine if relevant persons were appropriately skilled to safely conduct their tasks.
Documentation that records the participant details, general content and date of training are essential in proving that adequate training has been provided.
Training should cover all relevant workplace policies, procedures and practices to ensure that staff have the appropriate skills and knowledge to perform their work safely and according to the legislative requirements and the department's and school/workplace's procedures.
Staff and others have a duty to comply with instructions given for workplace health and safety.
Staff training should generally include:
Training can take a variety of forms including formal courses, on-the-job training, practical demonstrations or work shadowing. The method of training must be relevant to the tasks that the person is going to perform. If practical skills are needed these should be demonstrated and practiced during training.
Supervision of staff assists to ensure appropriate procedures are being implemented and also serves as an evaluation tool for training. If staff can not implement the training content back in the workplace; the training has not been effective.
Training will need to be tailored to the skills of the participant and consider other factors such as literacy, learning style etc.
Your school/workplace WHSO or Regional Health and Safety Consultant may be able to deliver a range of training or advise of suitable training options. There may also be people in your school/workplace community with skills and knowledge in specific areas who could be involved in the delivery of training to school/workplace staff. For example, hazardous substances - science staff may have experience with chemical handling, storage and risk assessment processes.
It is important that the trainer:
Written procedures and records of training assist both the staff member and supervisor track the progress of training programs.
Documentation of training will be used during investigations to verify if, when and how "instruction, training and supervision" has been provided to staff.
Up-to-date training records also assist in identifying training needs.
TAFE Queensland
Provides information about courses, online study, campuses and adult community education.
Department of Education, Training and Employment
Provides a variety of training publications and resources.
This page was last reviewed on 30 Apr 2012
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Access keys |
Other languages
© The State of Queensland (Department of Education, Training and Employment) 2007.