Use cases by capability
Keeping track of team training
What expires here is not a company document: it is a person's authorisation to do their job.
Expiry control usually gets built for supplier documents. And then it turns out that what is most often asked for in an inspection or after an incident is not a company's insurance: it is whether that specific person was authorised for what they were doing that day.
Why it is controlled worse than everything else
| Supplier document | A person's training |
|---|---|
| One per company | One per person and per subject |
| Expires on a clear date | Depends on when each person did it |
| Requested by whoever runs purchasing | Requested by nobody until it is needed |
| If missing, you chase it | If missing, that person should not be doing that |
Important
The last row is the real difference. Expired insurance is solved by asking for it; expired training **is not solved with a phone call**: they must be trained again, and until then that person should not be in that role. So here the warning margin is not a convenience — it must be enough to arrange a course, not to send an email.
What to hold per person
- 1
What their role requires, written down
Unwritten, each manager demands what they believe and nobody can verify anything.
- 2
What they hold and since when
With the certificate, not a note saying they did it.
- 3
When it expires and who arranges renewal
By name: "HR" does not book courses, a person does.
- 4
And what happens meanwhile
It is the uncomfortable decision, and better taken calmly.
Watch out
The case that wrong-foots people is someone changing role inside the company. Nobody onboards or offboards them: they are the same employee, with the same training they had — which was for their previous role. **An internal move triggers no review, and it is exactly when someone starts doing something they are not trained for**, in complete good faith on both sides.
What you must be able to show
The first is always checked and fails by weeks: the course happened, the certificate arrived later, and in between there was work. The date that counts is the training date, which is why it is worth recording when it took place, not only when the paper arrived.
Worth knowing
The same applies to licences, authorisations and internal permits: driving a forklift, handling food, working at height, entering a restricted area. The mechanics are identical; who demands it changes.
›What about training delivered in-house?
It counts the same, and is recorded the same: who delivered it, to whom and when.
›Can the employee supply their own certificate?
Yes, by their link, and it arrives sooner and lands in their file.
›Must it be kept after they leave?
For the applicable period: it evidences what they did while they were there.
A real case
The situation
An operator moves to a different role internally and starts using new machinery.
What you do
- The role change triggers a review of what the new role requires
What you get
A missing authorisation is spotted before they use it, rather than after an incident.
The situation
A technician is stopped at a client's gate because their training lapsed a month ago.
What you do
- Records each person's training with its validity
- Warns with the lead time the renewal needs
- Checks per person before assigning them to a job
What you get
Renewal happens before it hits the rota, not at the client's gate.
The situation
Somebody new joins and starts without the training done.
What you do
- Checks what is missing before assigning them work
What you get
Onboarding is resolved before the first job.
The situation
A client asks you to evidence the training of the team coming in.
What you do
- Checks each person's file
What you get
The handover is prepared in minutes.
The situation
Training happens and the certificate stays on paper.
What you do
- Captures it and attaches it to the person
What you get
The paper stops being the only copy.
The situation
All the training expires in the same month.
What you do
- Warns far enough ahead to spread it out
What you get
The calendar spreads out.
This article answers
- employee training control
- training matrix and expiries
- evidencing someone is trained
- team licences and certifications