A seamless experience – integrated health and safety training into a major furniture retailer’s LMS

Introduction

DFS is a leading sofa and furniture retailer in the UK, offering a wide range of styles, types and brands. Paul Johnson is Head of Group Heath and Safety at DFS. He explains how easy it was to integrate the company’s training with International Workplace’s Content Connector.

Delivering IOSH Managing Safely nationwide

"At the start of the pandemic, we were looking for an online training provider. We’d used International Workplace five years previously so it was a natural choice to go back and have a look at what was on offer and how it could be delivered.

"Every manager and supervisor within DFS, whether they’re based on a distribution site or a manufacturing site, completes an IOSH Managing Safely course and we wanted to be able to continue to offer that as a business, but in a different way. As a nationwide company it means that if you’re based in Inverness you don't have to travel centrally to the Midlands to complete a course, making training easier to complete for delegates.

"Prior to joining DFS I delivered H&S courses myself, so I understand the difficulties of delivering online sessions. The tutors at International Workplace are brilliant, and they’ve had really good, positive feedback from the delegates."

Using the content connector

"We use International Workplace’s Content Connector to integrate the courses within our own LMS and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use. I was able to download the courses and provide these to our L&D team, who then uploaded them to our eLearning platform. I get full access to the analytics, which means that I can provide weekly updates to the delegates and encourage them to complete any remaining tasks in time. The ease of integration with our current eLearning system is a massive benefit – we don't have to access the course through a separate system, it’s completely integrated, which makes the whole experience seamless. Delegates simply log on to our eLearning hub and find their course.

"International Workplace has also been very good at adapting the courses to suit our requirements. As the tutors deliver more of the courses, they become familiar with our processes and terminology, and apply the training to our delegates’ direct experience and tasks working for DFS. This makes the course feel tailored and relevant for our specific needs."