Hundreds of managers at Southampton City Council have not completed health and safety essentials training in the past three years.
An internal audit also found that training records showed around 264 staff members had not completed fire safety or display screen equipment training over the same time period.
The mandatory training figures were not being reported to the council's health and safety board, which was discovered to have its own issues.
A report to the audit committee said the health and safety board had only convened twice in the past 12 months despite a quarterly meeting schedule requirement.
Internal auditors said there had also been a lack of escalating up to the executive management team when areas that needed action were identified.
Members of the audit committee were told at a meeting on Monday, December 8, that significant changes in the management structure at all levels had influenced some of the board meetings not taking place.
The report said 378 managers had not undertaken health and safety
essentials training within the past three years.
Cllr Sam Chapman, Liberal Democrat, said: "The reports reads like fundamentally there is a leadership problem in that health and safety area.
"That's my reading of it.
"You have got meetings that aren't happening, they are infrequent, poor training completion and some of the numbers here are quite large."
Independent committee member Ephraim Unuigbe said it appeared that maybe the council was not taking its responsibilities around health and safety seriously.
Principal auditor Ian Dutfield said: "In terms of mandatory training, there has historically been quite a lot of issues with us with getting the system right and making sure people are aware of what training they need to do for their specific roles.
"Over the last year or so there has been a new system put in place, which better illustrates this.
"An employee or manager can go in and see their compliance rate and what they still need to do. I am hoping that is going to start filtering through into some of these figures regarding staff training."
The committee proposed carrying out a deeper dive into the area at a meeting in the new year.
Cllr Chapman said he wanted to unpick some of the leadership aspects, especially around where the responsibility sits.
He added: "Health and safety is not unimportant."
Mr Dutfield said the refreshed health and safety board with new members held its first meeting last month, which he attended.
The internal audit report said while no issues were identified with policies and documentation, and the design of processes were all appropriate, issues identified related to how processes were being operated or overseen in service areas.
It added: "Currently there can be only limited confidence that Health and Safety is operating effectively and consistently in all areas."