FEATURE
TRAINING AND FACILITIES GO HAND-IN-HAND
Frank Post, Executive Director of the CIEH explains why it’s necessary for FMs to continue with their professional development.
There are a whole host of areas connected with facilities management, from cleaning and landscaping services to catering and front of house services, making it a dynamic and busy industry.
Training staff and making sure they’re qualified and proficient in their particular role is extremely important. But due to the busy nature of facilities management, training can sometimes fall off the radar or be pushed back in terms of current priorities.
Managers often see training as time-consuming and a regulatory burden, complying with rules that have been imposed by those that have no understanding of the pressure and demands of a working business. Likewise, executive boards might view training as an unnecessary cost, hitting their bottom lines and taking members of staff away from their workload.
On the other side of the coin, employees often bemoan having to attend training because it takes them out of their normal routine and employees are not necessarily given the bigger picture about how important training is for the wider business and therefore, do not feel engaged with process.
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) is a professional body dedicated to safeguarding and improving the UK’s health and wellbeing, as well as being the leading awarding organisation for vocational qualifications in regulated food safety, Health and Safety and environmental protection.
As a leading training provider, we want to turn this mind-set around and urge people working within
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facilities management to rethink their approach to training.
One particular area that will benefit both managers and workers in the field of facilities management is Health and Safety training. This area of training has been designed to make employees aware of the key safety issues and the part they should play in keeping themselves and others free from harm in the workplace.
Health and Safety training will lead to increased productivity and a higher awareness of risks that could be the cause of other incidents. Furthermore, this type of training will ultimately benefit your bottom line as staff will be more productive and there will be a likely reduction to the amount of staff turnover, which costs businesses of any size a considerable amount of energy, time and money to train-up new members of staff.
COSHH In facilities management, workers
are regularly exposed to dangerous materials, such as toxic cleaning products. Again it is training that will help educate employees in how to handle these products safely to protect themselves and those around them. Therefore, facility mangers can look to train their staff in a Level two Award in the Principles of COSHH, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) at work.
Learning outcomes will help people identify the hazards associated with these potentially harmful products, as well as detecting the risks and controls available to deal with the substances.
WORKING WITH FOOD For those working in or around food,
food safety training is another key area for facilities management. Everyone who works with food has a special responsibility for safeguarding the health of consumers and ensure that the goods they serve or sell is perfectly safe to eat whether you are preparing food on-site or selling pre- packaged items.
Learning outcomes include gaining a firm grasp of the importance of food safety and knowledge of the systems, techniques and procedures involved, as well as understanding how to control food safety risks, such as personal hygiene, food storage, cooking and handling.
As you can see, training subjects are quite varied and you might end up wanting you or your staff to attend a whole host of sessions. This will invariably lead to more time out of work but training these days does not necessarily have to be about sitting in a classroom.
With the advent of modern technology, training can also be done on a computer, which people often find is a cost-effective and flexible learning solution that can be tailored to the needs of your organisation.
ELEARNING The CIEH offers their own brand of
eLearning, which incorporates high- quality videos to bring learning to life, as well as interactive content such as games, recap sessions and Q&A exercises. Furthermore, eLearning incorporates revision questions, in-course reviews and end of course tests, all with the ability to print off certificates of completion.
We have seen through eLearning that this type of training can lead to increased engagement as people
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