Health and Safety Training Matrix
Work out what training your staff need, who needs it, and when it runs out
- Free
- No signup
- Nothing leaves your browser
- PDF download
Most training matrix templates are a blank spreadsheet. You still have to know which courses belong in it, which is the hard part.
This one works it out for you. Answer some plain questions about your business — what you do, how many people, and what actually happens day to day — and it produces a list of the health and safety training that applies to you, split into what is legally required and what is recommended, with the reason each one is there.
Add your staff and each person gets their own record. Enter the dates of training already completed and it tracks what has expired, what is due in the next three months, and who needs booking on what. Download the whole thing as a PDF training matrix you can keep with your health and safety records.
It is free, there is no signup, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.
About your business
Pick the closest match. The questions in step 2 change depending on what you choose here.
Count everyone on your payroll including part-time and casual staff. Several duties change at 5 employees and again at 50.
What happens in your workplace
Tick anything that happens, even occasionally or only for one person. Occasional exposure still creates a duty. If you are unsure about something, tick it — the tool will tell you what the requirement is and you can decide from there.
Who works for you
Tick every job type you have. This adds training that attaches to specific roles on top of the duties that apply to the whole business.
Your training plan
Save your answers. Copy the code below and keep it somewhere safe. Paste it back in next time to restore this plan along with every completion date you have entered. Nothing is stored on our servers.
Restore a previous plan. Paste a saved code here and select restore.
Track training person by person, so you can see who is covered and who is not — rather than one date for the whole business.
How this works
- Add a person and pick their main job. A name or just initials is fine.
- A list of their training appears. You do not build it — it is worked out from the job you picked plus the answers you gave about your workplace.
- Fill in the dates of any training they have already done. Leave the rest blank.
- Anything expired, due, or blank is collected into a booking list at the bottom of this tab.
Initials are fine if you would rather not record full names.
Not sure? Pick the closest match, or leave it blank and add training manually.
Download your training register
A full PDF with your action plan, a breakdown by person, the complete register, and columns to record who attended. Enter your completion dates first so the document reflects where you actually stand.
What is a training matrix?
A training matrix is a record of who in your organisation has had what training, when they did it, and when it needs doing again. At its simplest it is a grid: people down one side, courses along the top, dates in the middle.
The reason most of them fail is not the format. It is that a spreadsheet does not tell you which courses should be in the grid in the first place, and it does not tell you when something has quietly expired. You have to already know the answer before the template is any use.
That is the gap this tool fills. It works out which training applies to your workplace from what you actually do, then tracks the expiry dates for you.
What should a training matrix include?
A training matrix that will stand up to scrutiny needs five things:
- The person — who the record belongs to. A name, initials or a staff reference.
- The course — what training they did, named specifically enough to identify the level. "First aid" is not enough; Emergency First Aid at Work and First Aid at Work are different qualifications.
- The completion date — when they did it.
- The expiry date — when it needs doing again. A matrix without expiry dates is just a list of things that happened.
- The evidence — where the certificate is filed, or a certificate reference.
If you only add one thing to an existing matrix, make it the expiry dates. Lapsed certificates are the most common training gap we see — not employers who never trained anyone, but employers who trained everyone once.
How often does health and safety training need renewing?
Renewal intervals vary by course and awarding body. These are the common ones:
| Training | Typical renewal |
|---|---|
| Asbestos Awareness | Every 12 months |
| Fire Safety Awareness | Every 12 months |
| First Aid at Work (FAW) | Every 3 years |
| Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) | Every 3 years |
| Fire Marshal / Warden | Typically every 3 years |
| Manual Handling | Typically every 3 years |
| COSHH | Typically every 3 years |
| IOSH Managing Safely | Refresher every 3 years |
| CITB SMSTS and SSSTS | Every 5 years |
| IPAF and PASMA | Every 5 years |
These are common industry and awarding body refresh cycles rather than statutory maximums in every case. Some certificates carry no formal expiry but still need refreshing when your work, equipment or duties change. Always check what your awarding body, insurer and clients require.
Common questions
Is health and safety training a legal requirement?
Some of it, yes. There is no single official list of mandatory courses, which is what confuses most employers. Instead there is a set of duties: the Health and Safety at Work Act requires employers to provide adequate information, instruction, training and supervision, and individual regulations add specific requirements where particular hazards are present.
In practice that means fire safety instruction applies to every employer, first aid provision is determined by a needs assessment, and things like COSHH, asbestos awareness and working at height apply wherever those hazards exist.
How many first aiders do I need?
There is no fixed ratio in law. The First-Aid Regulations require you to carry out a needs assessment and provide what it identifies.
As a starting point, HSE guidance suggests that for a low-risk workplace with fewer than twenty-five employees, the minimum is at least one appointed person. That is a floor rather than an option. Higher-risk work, or more staff, and the guidance points towards qualified first aiders trained to First Aid at Work level.
We have a separate free tool that works this out properly and produces a printable record: First Aid Needs Assessment.
Does health and safety training expire?
Most of it does. First aid certificates run for three years, asbestos awareness needs refreshing annually, and the CITB site safety schemes run for five years. Some courses carry no formal expiry but still need refreshing when the work, the equipment or someone's duties change.
An expired certificate counts the same as no certificate, which is why tracking the dates matters as much as booking the training.
Who needs health and safety training?
Anyone exposed to a hazard that carries a training duty, plus anyone with responsibility for managing others. That usually means more people than employers expect. Office staff working at screens fall under the display screen equipment regulations. Cleaners using ordinary cleaning products fall under COSHH. Anyone who might disturb asbestos in a building put up before 2000 needs asbestos awareness.
The tool above works out who needs what based on the roles you employ and the hazards present in your workplace.
Do I need a training matrix by law?
There is no specific legal requirement to keep a training matrix in that format. What the law requires is that you can demonstrate your staff are competent, and that where you have five or more employees your risk assessments are recorded in writing.
A training matrix is simply the most practical way of evidencing competence when an inspector, insurer or client asks. Clients and principal contractors frequently ask to see one as a condition of contract.
Is this training matrix tool free?
Yes. There is no signup, no email required, and nothing you enter is sent to our servers. Everything stays in your browser. You can copy a save code or download a PDF to keep your work.
Ready to book?
Every course the tool identifies links straight through to its own page, where you can compare dates, locations and providers. Or browse the full health and safety catalogue.
Browse health & safety coursesWorking out first aid cover? The matrix above tells you whether you need first aiders and at what level. Our First Aid Needs Assessment tool goes further — it applies the full HSE framework to your risk level, shift patterns and site layout, and produces a dated record you can sign and file.
This page is general guidance, not legal advice.