The mandatory list for a solar site
Decide which programs each role needs before it can work unsupervised, and publish the list at every site. The HSE officer owns it, and the site in-charge makes sure no one skips it in a busy week. Review the list whenever the site takes on a new kind of work, such as battery storage or a substation extension.
- Site HSE induction for everyone on arrival
- Working at height for rooftop and structure work, with harness and rescue drills
- Electrical safety covering DC arc hazards, lockout and the permit-to-work system
- First aid for heat stroke, snake bite, burns and CPR
- Fire safety for inverter rooms and transformer yards
- Two-person lifting and handling of modules
- POSH awareness, with an Internal Committee in place at every workplace of ten or more employees
Refreshers planned from completion dates
In ZeniaHR's Learning module, every program carries a validity in months. Each time the HSE officer marks a worker as having finished a program, ZeniaHR logs it and assigns a certificate number, and the program's compliance view names everyone who has completed it. The refresher date is simply the completion date plus the validity, so keep a site refresher plan built from those dates. The strongest control is the permit: the HSE officer checks the worker's training before issuing a height or electrical permit, and a lapsed refresher means no permit. Mark office staff as waived for field programs, so the lists show only real gaps.
Skills for new technology
The equipment keeps changing. Single-axis trackers need mechanical and control skills that fixed-tilt plants never did. String inverters are replacing central ones, and battery storage brings its own fire and thermal risks. When new equipment arrives, run the equipment maker's training as an external program, enrol only the people who will work on it, and sign them off only once they have shown the skill on your own equipment.
How to set it up in ZeniaHR
- Create the site induction, height, electrical, first aid and fire programs in Learning, each with a mandatory flag, hours and validity.
- Enrol every worker at a site in the programs for their role, and mark them complete after the practical check.
- Build a refresher plan for each site from completion dates plus validity, and review it monthly with the HSE officer.
- Ask the HSE officer to check training before issuing any height or electrical permit, and use the waived status for office staff.
- Add equipment makers' courses as external programs whenever new trackers, inverters or storage systems arrive.
Read more about learning and training in ZeniaHR.
Roles this applies to
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What safety training do solar installation workers need?
The site induction, working at height with harness and rescue drills, electrical safety covering DC hazards and lockout, first aid for heat stroke and snake bite, fire safety and safe module handling. Workers on live systems also need to understand the permit-to-work process before their first job.
How often should electrical safety training be refreshed?
A yearly refresher is common practice, with an extra session straight after any incident or whenever new equipment arrives. Set a 12-month validity on the program, work out each worker's refresher date from the day they completed it, and do not issue electrical permits once that date has passed.
Who should check training before work at height on a solar site?
The HSE officer, at the moment of issuing the height permit. Checking the worker's completion record and refresher date before signing the permit makes training a real control rather than a file. The site in-charge supports this by not assigning anyone whose training is overdue.