Training matrix template

What is in the template

The file has three sheets. You work on the first two and read the third once.

The names and the heading row stay in view as you scroll, and the heading row repeats on every page when you print. The file has no macros and nothing in it is locked, so you can change any part of it. It opens in Excel, and in Google Sheets if you upload it to Google Drive first.

This page is about using the file. If you want the background first, our guide to what a training matrix is covers what belongs in one and why firms keep them.

How to fill it in

1. Start on the Courses sheet. Replace the example course names with the training your people need. Add how many months each one lasts and who provides it. Leave the months blank for training that is done once and never runs out.
2. Go to the Matrix sheet and type over the three example rows. One row for each person, with their role. Include agency staff and regular subcontractors if they do the work.
3. Type the expiry date in each square. That is the date the training runs out, not the date of the course. Work it out by adding the course's length to the date it was completed: a first aid at work course completed on 12/05/2026 and lasting 36 months expires on 12/05/2029.
4. Type NEEDED where someone needs a course and has not done it. The square turns red.
5. Leave the square blank where the person does not need that course. A blank square has no colour.
6. For training that never expires, type a date far in the future. An induction is the usual example. 31/12/2099 keeps the square green.
7. Save the file where the people who need it can find it. Then pick a day each month to open it, and put it in your diary.

What the colours mean

The colours are worked out from today's date every time the file is opened. A square can turn amber or red without anyone touching the file.

Deciding what goes in the columns

The Courses sheet comes with six examples (induction, manual handling, fire safety awareness, first aid at work, fire marshal and working at height) and four spare columns. Treat them as placeholders. Your own columns should come from your risk assessments: what could hurt someone doing each job, and what training controls it. Our guide to mandatory training sets out what the law requires of every employer and what depends on the work.

The figures in the "Lasts (months)" column are starting points too. HSE's guidance is that a first aid at work certificate lasts three years. Most other training has no expiry date set by law, and the 36 months shown against manual handling or working at height is a common choice, not a rule. Regulation 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 says only that training must be "repeated periodically where appropriate". Read how long training certificates last before you settle on your own periods.

Give in-house training a column as well: the induction, the fire procedure, the briefing on the new saw. It counts as training, and it is the part most often left off.

How to adapt the template

• More than ten courses. Add rows to the bottom of the list on the Courses sheet. Then copy the last course column on the Matrix sheet to the right and point its heading at the new row.
• More than 100 people. The colour rules cover 100 rows. Insert new rows inside the list, not below it, and the rules stretch to fit.
• More than one site. Insert a column after Role and call it Site. Switch on the filter for the heading row and you can show one site at a time.
• More warning. The amber rule is set at 30 days. To change it, open Conditional Formatting, then Manage Rules, on the Matrix sheet and change the 30 in the amber rule to 60 or 90.
• Certificate numbers. A square holds one date. Keep the certificate number and provider in a note on the cell, or in a separate list.
• Leavers. Move the row to a new sheet called Leavers. Deleting it throws away the record of what that person was trained to do while they worked for you.

The limits of a spreadsheet matrix

The template is a good way to start and an honest record if it is looked after. These are the things it cannot do.

• It does not work out expiry dates. You add the months yourself. A date that is a year out looks exactly like a correct one.
• It does not know what each role needs. Someone has to remember to type NEEDED. If they forget, a gap looks the same as a square left blank on purpose.
• Nothing prompts you to open it. The colours change only when somebody looks.
• One square holds one date. The new certificate overwrites the old one, so there is no history and nowhere to keep the certificate itself.
• Copies drift apart. Once the file has been emailed round, there are several versions and no way to tell which is right.
• Anyone can change anything. There is no record of who changed a date, or when.

When a spreadsheet stops being enough

For a firm of ten people in one place, with one person looking after it, the template does the job. There is no headcount at which it stops working. The signs are practical ones.

• More than one person needs to update it, and they are not in the same office.
• You have found out a ticket had lapsed because somebody asked to see it.
• New starters are on the payroll for weeks before they appear on the matrix.
• A customer's auditor wants the certificate behind the date, and it takes an afternoon to find.
• People move between roles, and nobody is sure which squares should say NEEDED.

Our page on spreadsheets or software goes through the trade-off without assuming the answer.

Keeping it in SafetyPro360

SafetyPro360 holds the same grid as records. Each role lists the courses it requires, and each course has a length in months or is marked as never expiring. When you enter a training record with the date it was completed, the expiry date is worked out from the course's length. The matrix shows every person against every course a role requires as in date, running out within 30 days, expired, or required and missing, and it can be filtered by role, and by site if you have more than one. Certificate number, provider and notes sit on each record. It does not send reminders: the gaps are listed on the dashboard when you log in.

Questions people ask