There is no mandatory safety training in the UK.
However, the BASC run shotgun safety courses and in order to shoot deer, many places and many police forces (who control firearms licensing) favour DSC level 1 or 2, which cover all aspects of deer hunting from quarry I.D to marksmanship, to processing meat.
As all land is in private ownership, it is hard (impossible) for some city-based newcomer to just start wandering about shooting things.You need to convince the landowner that you are safe to trust on his patch or in his company - usually a personnal recommendation is required.
There are some issues regarding corporate driven shooting days bought by big companies, like banks, as a day out.When Guns are inexperienced, we generally place a loader (minder) to stand with them and stop any dangerous or unsporting behaviour.
Most of us learned to shoot with a father, keeper or relative when we were kids and the formal rules for shooting in the UK are very rigorous and inflexible - mess up and you don't get to shoot there again.
Shooting accidents are almost unheard of and fatalities occur once every decade or so at most. Despite this, I think a voluntary form of formal training is a good idea for those coming to the sport as adults. It is hard to argue against it.
