ThinkingWorking from home during Coronavirus: free training courses available

“It’s our job to help people stay safe and look after their mental wellbeing when they work from home” - says British Safety Council.
Content Team4 years ago7 min

The British Safety Council is offering free online training courses for home workers as the nation changes its working habits to meet the threat of Coronavirus. As millions of workers in Britain set themselves up to work from home, they will be adjusting to a whole new way of working and preparing to miss the social contact of their workplace. To support them the British Safety Council is offering courses for free until the middle of April.

  • Remote Workers’ Health Safety and Welfare
  • Mental Health: Start the Conversation are aimed at all employees.

There is also a course on Managing Stress Within Your Team – helpful to managers looking after teams working from different locations at a time of major national crisis.

Employers are required to protect the health, safety and welfare of all employees, including those who are working away from the office.

Speaking from his home office this morning the chief executive of the British Safety Council said:

“Across Britain people are making big changes to their work routine and millions of people are working from home for the first time. This will mean quite an adjustment for lots of people. Working away from the office has implications for workers and managers.

– Michael Robinson, Chief Executive of the British Safety Council

“Even in normal times it’s important for peoples’ wellbeing to make sure they are connected to their colleagues and their work if they are not coming into the workplace – at a time of serious anxiety in the life of our country keeping an eye on your wellbeing and your colleagues’ wellbeing will be really important.”

“I hope by offering out our expertise for free with some accessible online courses people will see some real value.”

The British Safety Council is turning its attention to new courses and resources for workers that can be accessed online. This will include guidance on risk management, disaster recovery and lone working. The British Safety Council website includes information for employers and employees on coronavirus and links to the free courses.

The Courses:

Remote Workers’ Health Safety and Welfare 

This course helps workers to identify risks and hazards of their remote working location and to do their job safely. It includes details about legal duties that relate to remote working and guidance to reduce risks to physical and mental wellbeing. There is also advice about planning for and managing emergencies.

Mental Health: Start the Conversation

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to mental health and the link between pressure facing people at work and outside work that effect mental health. It includes how to look after one’s own mental health as well as knowing the signs that someone else needs help and understanding why people are reluctant to talk about their mental health.

Managing Stress Within Your Team

Essential for every responsible manager, this course highlights some of the pressures their teams might face, helps managers become more aware of their own actions and behaviours, and most importantly it helps manage and reduce stress levels within their team.

For more content on working from home, click here


Content Team

Work in Mind is a content platform designed to give a voice to thinkers, businesses, journalists and regulatory bodies in the field of healthy buildings.

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