When it comes to spill training there is absolutely no point in playing at it. Far too often organisations are motivated to run a course for all the wrong reasons. ISO14001 compliance is just one of the prime motivators but not the only culprit.
Over the last few months we have been training a range of organisations large and small from a dairy to a large public sector building involved in administration and back office functions. In all cases there was an obvious desire to do things properly but with little consideration of what really happens when a significant incident occurs. The training had to be done but in a way that, in reality, is unlikely ever to work because it is being done in silos.
Far too often training is undertaken in a silo like approach. First Aid Training, Fire Warden Training, Spill Kit Training, Business Continuity Training all seem to have invisible barriers between them, all being approached with diligence but in many cases by different training organisations and no thought of joining them up. The big problem is getting a commitment to exercise the whole organisation. Yes we can test the spill team’s response, yes we can put the First Aiders on a course, yes we can undertake some fire warden training but it must not interfere with the running of the business. Senior management can just about spare the time to do a BCM desk top exercise, which usually involves restriction of access to the building and the smug confidence that because they have an alternative site they can just turn up there and business will carry on as before. Far too often we are asked to run an Incident Management Course without any members of senior management being involved at all !!
The reality though, which hits home time and time again, when we run an exercise for real, it’s what you do in the first 10 minutes and how your incident management invocation process functions is the real indicator of how integrated your incident and emergency management function is.
Last year we launched an integrated Spill and First Aid Course .
Developed in association with our partner First4Aid, this 8 hour course complies with the minimum requirements of the HSE accreditation, Emergency First Aid at Work but, also covers the basics of Spill/Incident response as well. The aim is to reduce the effects of injury or illness suffered as a result of a spill incident as well as providing an effective First Aid at Work Course. For companies developing a spill response resource and wishing to comply with the minimum legislative requirements of the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 this course ticks both boxes. The EFAW training, embedded within the course, enables a first-aider, or perhaps several members of the spill/incident team to give emergency first aid to someone who is injured or becomes ill while at work.
Where the work involves hazards such as chemicals or dangerous machinery, or special hazards such as hydrofluoric acid or confined spaces, first-aid requirements will be greater.
In these circumstances we would recommend our more advanced 3 day First Aid at Work for Spill Response Course.
Still providing everything required to pass the 3 Day FAW Course this course also provides the added benefit of providing spill responders, first aiders and scene managers with a more integrated approach and gets closer to the reality of really happens when things go wrong.
Both courses were slow starters, perhaps due to the fear of cost and time away from the work place but those who have bitten the bullet and reaped the rewards will tell you they gained so much more of an appreciation of how training should be conceived and run.
Why not contact us to discuss your requirements, what have you got to lose? Unfortunatley incidents, when they happen, don’t wait until it’s the right time and everyone is on scene and the silos are miraculously full and ready for action…