TJ’s sixth annual health and safety training event has proved to be a success yet again, with 100% of staff completing the training virtually.
In the lead-up to the event there were many challenges to overcome as Covid guidance changed, meaning that the plans for the event had to change with them.
The venue that TJ has used a number of times in pre-pandemic years, Southdowns College, was unavailable so we secured a booking at Portsmouth Football Club for our Hampshire based employees. However, when the Government advice changed in December 2021, advising against mass gatherings, the booking had to be cancelled.
At that time, TJ’s Head of Compliance, Jack Macfarlane, who was organising the event, decided to amend the format entirely and instead run smaller group sessions in the boardroom at TJ’s Fareham HQ as well as at hired office spaces in Shoreham and Bristol for staff based in those areas.
When the Government guidance changed again as Covid cases rose further, Jack and the TJ team decided to move the inductions online – as they were last year – to ensure staff safety and keep risks to a minimum.
The way the content was delivered had to be completely rethought as the planned sessions were designed to be interactive, including various activities and provoking discussions. The content had to be pre-recorded as videos for staff to watch at a time convenient to them, and the TJ team did all they could to keep the videos as interesting and engaging as possible.
Jack, along with Lee Downer, Fleet Manager and in-house driver CPC trainer, produced and narrated the TJ videos, with input on content from John Riley, Operations Manager for Quarries and Landfills, Jason Strudwick, Operations Manager, and Stuart Etherington, TJ’s external H&S consultant.
TJ’s new tyre service provider, Michellin, also agreed to produce some content for the inductions and provided TJ with two engaging and informative videos for staff to watch.
All staff were asked to watch the videos during January and managers ensured that every staff member did so to maintain the high level of health and safety training that TJ provides. The following videos were watched by the various different staff groups:
TJ drivers:
TJT site employees:
MRF site employees:
Thanks to a greater understanding of online-based technologies, this year we also managed to conduct a staff health questionnaire as part of the delivery. The completion of annual health questionnaire forms part of our health and safety policy and allows us to monitor employees’ health, which is part of our duty of care towards our staff.
Jack said:
“All the last-minute changes proved challenging, but we got there! We adapted quickly and still managed to communicate key safety messages in an effective way to our workforce, which is great. One of the benefits of these videos is that all new employees can access the videos when they join the business, at any point during the year. Covid-permitting, we hope to have the normal face to face inductions back in place in 2023.”
Find out more about TJ and the other training they provide for their staff…
