Health and Safety Coming to a Screen Near You

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Safety representatives across the country will soon be reaching for their keyboards and surfing to the latest in online Trade Union Congress (TUC) courses.

From October, the TUC Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety will be made available for study, via the convenience of the Net. The 36 week course, which can lead to a professional safety qualification, is aimed at experienced safety reps who want “to question the development and function of health and safety law”, “build trade union organisation for health and safety”, and effectively “tackle some of the health, safety, welfare and environmental problems that workers currently face”.

New Course to be a “Big Hit”

According to Liz Rees, the TUC’s Head of Education and Training, health and safety has a high clickability rating, attracting well over 50% of all candidates who apply for courses online.

TUC Education believes that by utilising the far-reaching ganglions of the World Wide Web, they can help teach those who are currently restricted from learning and thus increase their annual quota of training. Safety representatives will no longer have to waste time travelling to and from designated sites on set days to attend rigid courses; instead learners will benefit from a flexible programme whereby they log-in, and interact with both tutors and fellow participants at a time and place which suits them for at least 3 hours per week. Reps can still expect to receive their full hourly rate, because studying online is not seen as an alternative to paid release from work.

“The prospect of delivering training to a generation of reps and potential reps unable to access classroom provision and to offer supplementary training to experienced union reps is fast becoming a reality. By the end of this year, safety reps will be able to access high quality online provision from wherever they choose to learn” said Ms Rees.

Phillip Byrne, Union Affairs Correspondent

Is this a vision for the future? Or a future for impaired vision? You decide in the FE Blog

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