The Benefits of CPD

CPD is important because it helps you to keep up to date with new legislation in your industry. The government, god bless them, are always coming up with new regulations (red tape) which prevents us from doing our job in the way they may have been done in the past. Such as, administrative processes to log information regarding health and safety checks. In the past a simple visual check may have been sufficient to identify if an area was safe to work in. But now a comprehensive risk assessment must be completed. It is important that a log of how often these checks are carried out are complete, that they hold accurate information and that an accountable person is responsible for updating them. Without carrying out some form of CPD it is unlikely that you would be fully aware of what these new processes and procedures are and which inform should be recorded.

So what is CPD? Its Continuous Professional Development. It means taking responsibility for your own continued learning. You may have received a specific qualification such as NEBOSH but if this was now 10 years ago you might find your practices and knowledge relating to industry out of date, you could be using old paperwork that doesn't obtain the relevant information to meet with current expectations or has out of date reference numbers etc.

CPD can come from many different areas:

• Accredited training (In house or external)
• Unaccredited training (In house or external)
• Joining professional membership bodies
• Reading articles relevant to your industry
• Attending networking events relevant to your industry
• Coaching/Mentorship

There are a number of ways you can keep your industry knowledge updated as listed above. Many companies are now asking staff to keep CPD logs to demonstrate their own commitment to learning. Some companies have gone as far to attach it to their bonus schemes.

So why not take control of your own career, keep yourself ahead of the game and make yourself an attractive prospect to your current employer and future employers by updating your skills.

Check out our CPD Accredited courses https://www.connect2training.co.uk/onlinetraining