Make UK’s virtual classroom brings IOSH Managing Safely course online

Make UK says it has combined the value of tutor-led, student-focused training with the convenience of screen-based e-learning, to deliver the internationally recognised IOSH Managing Safely course during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

Make UK says it can now offer the IOSH Managing Safely courses to your employees, working from home or furloughed during the COVID-19 lockdown. The virtual classroom goes beyond standard video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, providing features designed for learning. These include interactive, multi-user whiteboards, quiz and polling functions, and collaboration tools for small group work.

With organisations conscious of the financial and environmental cost of travelling, Make UK had been developing a virtual classroom to fill the gap between face-to-face training and e-learning as part of its digital strategy. The coronavirus outbreak, and the travel restrictions that came with it, accelerated the development and roll-out of the platform.

With a COVID-19 travel ban, Charlotte Hunter, Learning and Development Manager for global technology company ABB Limited, was forced to cancel the classroom-based IOSH Managing Safely courses booked with Make UK. She said: “It was important that we continued the development of our people, so we asked Make UK to explore options to provide training in a virtual classroom.”

Ian Cooke, Health, Safety and Sustainability lead at Make UK said: “We were quickly able to provide ABB with a demonstration, so they could see what delegates would get.”

Charlotte Hunter added: “Make UK listened to what we needed and translated this into a virtual training scenario that ensured quality was not compromised.” IOSH Managing Safely was delivered to three classes of managers from ABB using the virtual classroom, with all delegates passing the end of course exam, and reporting a positive learning experience.

COVID-19 management training

Alongside this, Make UK has launched a new course to help employers return to work safely and, going forward, manage their workforce and workplace in a safe and effective manner to deal with the threat of the virus.

The COVID-19 Management Training Programme is an online learning course which takes participants through a series of five modules designed to help them understand how the virus works and how to take the appropriate practical actions to protect their workforce and operate in an effective way with timely and strategic interventions, these are:

• Introduction, includes the impact of COVID-19, understanding viruses, symptoms, how it is spread, destroyed and risk factors;
• Chain of Infection, how to apply to COVID-19 so that you know where the virus’s weak links are in its route from infected person to a susceptible individual;
• How to undertake COVID-19 risk assessment;
• Key controls, social distancing and cleaning;
• Workforce management, information cycle, monitoring, PPE and inbound goods.

This is followed by a section on the legal implications for employers and managers including sections on inspections and Covid 19 related legislation.

The course also includes practical Make UK guidance including a Risk Assessment template, as well as risk assessment criteria for start up and a recovery support production and operations list. A wide range of external resources are also provided ranging from official Government, World Health Organisation and Health & Safety Executive guidance to practical information on how to effectively operate with PPE.

Commenting, Andrew Ward, Make UK Director of Health, Safety & Sustainability said: “This course will help manufacturers in particular do that with actions they can take in a timely, effective and strategic manner. We will be following this programme up with an additional module aimed at workers in a manufacturing environment. Our aim is to make sure that manufacturers have created a culture of confidence in which to move forward.”