Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Woodworking
A recent HSE study of woodworking accidents found that:
Employers have a legal duty to ensure that those who use wood equipment have received adequate training for health and safety, including training in methods of work, the risks created and the precautions to be taken.
Supervisors and managers of people using wood equipment also have to be adequately trained for health and safety purposes.
Training costs money, but untrained wood machinists are more likely to have an accident and the consequences will cost you more!
Anyone who uses woodworking machinery – including machine operators and assistants (those helping to feed or take off), and those supervising or managing them - are required by law to be adequately trained for the purposes of health and safety.
Although they may not need the same level of technical expertise as a fully trained skilled machinist, they:
Yes. But young people may only operate high-risk woodworking machinery during training if:
High-risk woodworking machines are:
Young people need careful supervision when being trained because they are less familiar with the risks and may be hesitant about asking questions.
Very often, yes, but in such cases you should get medical advice. Contact HSE’s Employment Medical Advisory Service who can give guidelines on individual cases.
No, although there are many good training colleges delivering first class training who can help you to meet your legal duties to train your staff.
But even after completing an external course the operative may well still need familiarisation (on-the-job) training in the workplace to learn the specific tasks of their work.
It is perfectly acceptable for companies to use the expertise of their own staff and follow an in-house training scheme.
Whoever gives the training, eg a supervisor or manager, they must be competent in:
Trainers should preferably be technically qualified to operate the machines they are giving training on. They need to be good communicators and have up-to-date knowledge of the legal requirements.
Many companies bring in a training provider so that their employees are trained-up on their own machines. There are several specialist woodworking training providers who are accredited by training bodies such as the City and Guilds Institute and the Construction Industry Training Board, and who are able to design and deliver training programmes tailored to meet your company’s needs. In addition a register of approved training providers is being developed by UK Woodchain. Nationally recognised qualifiactions are also being developed between the Open College Network and The Institute of Wood Science.
Choose a training provider in the same way as you would make any other purchase. Start with a clear idea of your needs, get prices from two or three and compare the services they offer. Consider the experience, qualifications and skills of their trainers and their understanding of health and safety requirements.
Some providers offer courses that are accredited by awarding bodies such as City and Guilds. If these courses meet your needs then you can be reasonably confident that they offer a consistent level of training, meeting quality standards.
It is highly unlikely that one- or two-day courses can provide all the elements of adequate training for someone who is new to woodworking and expected to use a hand-fed machine. An exception may be where the trainee will be restricted to specific, simple, low risk tasks.
Short courses may be adequate as refresher training for already skilled operators and for general awareness-raising training.
Yes. Skills can decline over time, particularly if not used regularly. And standards change from time to time. Regular uses of machinery should receive refresher training at least every five years, irregular users at least every 3 years.
An individual will have been adequately trained when they have completed a training scheme that includes the following:
Training specific to the particular job or task under close supervision (ie on-the-job training).
Young inexperienced workers are likely to require far more training and supervision than experienced wood machinists. However, experienced machinists will still need to be assessed to check they are competent, and they will probably need refresher training as well as job-specific training.
It is good practice for each worker to have an individual training plan. Start by identifying the skills each person needs to do their job in a safe and healthy way. Compare these against their current skills and knowledge and identify the gaps (training needs analysis). You can then plan to deliver training to eliminate those gaps.
Competence is a mixture of qualities and abilities that go together to enable someone to work safely. It includes knowledge, experience, training, qualifications (where appropriate), attitudes, awareness of limits and the ability to communicate effectively when appropriate.
If someone holds a national qualification does it mean they are adequately trained?
National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and other qualifications show that someone has been trained to a given level. But you cannot expect someone who is new to your business to go straight onto one of your machines and start work – whatever their qualifications. In getting their NVQ they may have only used a limited range of machines and then only for particular tasks. Before allowing them to work it is vital that you assess their training needs, provide additional training where necessary, and check they can demonstrate competence on the important aspects of their work. If nothing else, they will need job-specific training on the models of machine you have and your working arrangements
This will vary throughout the training process. Initially, supervision should be continuous and on a one-to-one basis, with gradual relaxation as the trainee becomes more competent. As each new operation or training element is introduced, the level of supervision will need to rise again, reducing gradually to a more general level only when the trainee has demonstrated competence by consistently using safe working practices.
How do I check that the training has ‘sunk-in’?
After a trainee has completed the training you need to assess whether it has been effective and to make sure they are competent.
You need to test their competence in the following areas, all of which are necessary to safe working:
The level of competence required will depend upon the work and responsibilities that individuals have.
Here are some model assessment sheets for common high-risk hand-fed woodworking machines:
Guards and protective devices rarely eliminate all risk on woodworking machines so the law states that only people who have received sufficient information, instruction and training to enable them to carry out the work safely should operate such machines. Authorising such individuals to use certain machines is one way of satisfying the law. The authorisation should list those machines and operations for which authorisation is given.
You are recommended to keep a list of authorised operators with the type(s) of machine on which each operator has proven competence, and how and when their competence was assessed.
A copy of the authorisation should be given to the operator for their personal record.