Is online safety training actually accepted by regulators?
Sometimes yes, sometimes absolutely not — and the difference usually comes down to whether you have to demonstrate a physical skill.
The short version: awareness training is usually fine online, and anything that requires you to physically demonstrate something usually is not. A regulator that wants to see you put on a harness correctly is not going to accept a multiple-choice question about harnesses.
That distinction explains most of the confusion. A fire safety awareness course teaches you what to do and how to recognise a risk; it can be delivered perfectly well through a screen. A first aid at work qualification requires you to perform chest compressions on a manikin while somebody qualified watches. No amount of video makes that assessable remotely.
Where it gets genuinely difficult is that the line moves depending on where you are standing. The Australian White Card can be completed entirely online if you work in Western Australia or Tasmania, and cannot if you work in New South Wales or Queensland. Ontario requires a hands-on practical for working at heights. Ireland's Safe Pass is an in-person programme and also requires an Irish PPS or UK National Insurance number. Same industry, same hazard, four different answers.
This is why a course that is marketed as "internationally recognised" should make you suspicious rather than reassured. Recognition is granted by a specific body under a specific set of regulations. A course can be excellent and still be worth nothing to the inspector standing in front of you, if it was written against the wrong rulebook.
Before you buy anything, ask three questions. Which awarding body is behind it. Which legislation it is written against. And whether your regulator accepts that mode of delivery for that qualification. Any provider who cannot answer all three quickly is not a provider you want.