Safety training – a special case?

Abstract

Examines the subject of safety training and attempts to demonstrate that it has particular challenges, especially in relation to the provision of realistic training. A review of the research literature in both industrial training and occupational health and safety reveals a wealth of material on the subject. However, the authors expected to find – and did not – material concerning the subject of “training safely” and of “risk assessment for training”. Proceeds to show that these are issues that are of practical concern both to practitioners and to safety regulators. A small study involving 34 safety inspectors seems to confirm this. It is argued that “training safely” is an area where the research lags behind practical developments. Concludes by proposing a programme of future research to meet this need.