COVID Secure Training and Testing Services

10 May COVID Secure Training And testing

Posted at 20:13h in Abrasive Wheels, Face Fit Testing, Face Fit Training, Onsite Training by Jo Wood 0 Comments

Covid Secure Training and Testing for our customers

Coronavirus has had an impact on all our lives. I am writing this on the back of the most intense, stressful, upsetting, but most rewarding 7 weeks of my working life.

So we now find ourselves in a completely different world to the one that we previously knew. We have been running our abrasive wheel and RPE face fit testing company for nearly 12 years now and everything that we have ever done before, has been completely thrown out of the window. We need to ensure we offer covid secure training and testing.

Gone are the days where we could get a large group of people to sit nice and snuggly in a meeting room or canteen and deliver a theory session prior to carrying out some practical training which in some cases involved close contact with each other.

We find ourselves now having to maintain social distance, washing our hands every 2 minutes and taking cover every time someone dares to cough!

The affects of Covid-19

So just where do we go from here? How can we carry on as a business?

These are just a few of the questions we have been asking ourselves over this period, the temptation like for most training providers is to just embrace the modern world and take all our training courses online.

Now for some subjects like manual handling, asbestos awareness etc. this would work just fine but still has its limitations, for us, abrasive wheel training, teaching and carrying out face fit testing rely heavily on the practical content. So how do we offer covid secure training and testing?

A face fit test obviously could not be conducted online it requires interaction between the test subject and the face fit tester, so this still must be done in person there is no virtual answer to this.

Online teaching

Could the teaching of face fit testing be moved online?

Potentially yes, certainly the theory aspect of the course could be delivered in that manner, but we have the issue of the practical element of the training.

Potentially, the practical could be delivered via a webcam but is this good enough?

Does this constitute thorough training?

I have serious doubts over this method and is it delivering the quality of the training that is required to do this vital job?

Abrasive Wheel Training

Abrasive wheel training, the theory, again, could easily be delivered by online methods, but not for the practical work, which is requirement.

I have had it suggested that we can watch them do a wheel change etc. via webcam!

The HSE say regarding abrasive wheel training “There is no substitute for thorough practical training in all aspects of the mounting and use of abrasive wheels.”

Watching a wheel change via webcam does not constitute thorough practical training in my mind and good luck explaining that to an inspector.

NHS Training Experience

We have been fortunate enough to be exceptionally busy during this lockdown period carrying out thousands of face fit tests and conducting training sessions for the NHS and the Healthcare sector.

We have learnt a lot from this valuable work that we have been doing over this period of time. Importantly, we have learnt that we can work on site even during a pandemic, as long as things are done in the right way, and the right precautions are taken.

We have first-hand experience of just how dangerous this virus can be, so we know that some of our onsite work can still be done as long as it is carried out in the right way, because we have already been doing it.

We will carry on conducting face fit testing and training for the NHS, Healthcare workers and other key workers until the lockdown is eased.