Linen provider extends specialist ‘first aid’ training deal with Oldbury's PLT Training

One of the UK’s largest hotel laundry and linen hire providers has extended its relationship with PLT Training in Oldbury.

Johnsons Hotel Linen, which supplies more than 200,000 hotel rooms across England, Scotland and Wales, has trained 80 of its staff in bespoke first aid courses over the last two years.

The company has tapped into scenario training to test knowledge and skills in a real-world environment at four of its locations in Birmingham, Chester, Leeds and Pwllheli.

“First aid training has been part of our business for 20 years, but Johnsons Hotel Linen is the first company to benefit from our specialist course in the hotel and leisure sector, said Kath Lang, operations director at Black Country-based PLT Training.

“Teaching the theory is important. However, to get the full understanding and experience, we like to test people in real life scenarios and that’s what we’ve done here - listening to what the client may face and coming up with bespoke training that better prepares them.

“We’ve covered injuries they may expect to see from the equipment they use on a day-to-day basis, including dislocations from the drums of large washers and burns from steam and dryers.

“Casualty simulation kits are used so the injuries on the volunteer actors look realistic, and feedback has been superb from both candidates and our client.”

Johnsons Hotel Linen turned to PLT Training in 2024 after looking to explore more specialised providers, who boast a strong track record in ‘scenario’ first aid.

The laundry and linen specialist was impressed with the speed of response and the quality of ‘trainers’ and the flexibility of being able to have courses delivered on its sites anywhere in the country.

Rebecca Pughe, head of HR at Johnsons Hotel Linen, said: “It has been a fantastic first two years and there is no doubt that 80 of our employees are now highly trained and better prepared to deal with first aid scenarios that might occur.

“PLT trainers and support staff are extremely knowledgeable and flexible so that our exact requirements are met. The detail they put into the bespoke courses is second to none and the feedback we have been given is that our staff feel more confident in dealing with potential injuries, as well as being Qualsafe accredited once the training has been completed.

“The relationship is working really well, and we are looking forward to extending it by reviewing other training courses we can utilise.”

PLT Training has come a long way since founder Nicc Bennett used to spend weeks travelling the country, providing health and safety sessions for free to convince people and companies that keeping staff safe was important.

Fast forward nearly 20 years and the business is one of the leaders in its field, delivering more than 150 different courses at its £1.25m ‘centre of excellence’ in Oldbury or onsite at over

1,500 client locations across the UK.

It celebrated its recent 20th year in business by moving to the new Oldbury site which hosts a comprehensive administrative function, with classrooms downstairs and six purpose-built zones for forklifts, advanced working at height, manual handling and first aid training. There is also a unique confined spaces course that includes working through a series of tunnels and fitting breathing apparatus.