Safety Toolbox Talk
A lot of safety incidents are caused by the workers not being aware of the hazards associated with their work, or potentially ignoring them, trying to save time or similar. Likewise, workers with the appropriate skills and knowledge, will make efforts to keep every work site a safer place where they can work in secure way. One cannot deny that safety talk is a very effective approach in order to promote a safety culture and for preventing workplace accidents. Basically, a toolbox talk is a daily safety review being conducted prior to the start of the work routine.
5-Minute Safety Talk
We can call them tailgate talks, toolbox talks, or something else, but regardless of their name, there’s no better instrument to emphasize workplace safety than allocating five minutes of our time to discuss the hazards associated with a job that is about to be carried out. We can have a 5 minute safety talk with our workers on any relevant topic.
Conducting a 5 Minute Safety Talk
It is important to cover those topics that are relevant for the attendees and work environment. In this regard, the supervisor or trainer can discuss situations and equipment specific to the jobsite, such as chemicals, ladders, treacherous terrain, machinery, and anything else that causes a clear hazard.
Furthermore, safety talks should be kept real and practical. In order to do so, the safety information can be contextualized by using a prop when feasible. For example, when we are talking about the dos and don’ts of a portable step ladder, then in that case an actual ladder can be used for actual demonstration. In comparison to words, people are remembering images and visuals for much longer. The addition of a prop also makes our safety talk more engaging and interesting. In the same spirit, safety information should not be just delivered from a paper sheet that merely relies on alarming statistics to convey our discussion point. Our safety talk should sound like a conversation rather than a lecture whether we prefer a Q&A or some other arrangement. The employees should have the opportunity to ask questions, involve themselves, and provide suggestions.
Practice What You Teach
In addition to that, the supervisor must practice what he/she speak about. There is no doubt that nothing loses trustworthiness faster than a trainer who doesn’t practice what they teach. For effectively communicating the significance of safety, leading by example is a promising approach. When people will see that their leaders are committed to safety and always follow the rules, then they will follow them as well.
Select the Right Topics
In this context we can narrow down some topics with the help of some general questions such as: What issues are we experiencing lately? What developments are taking place in our industry or workplace? More to the point there are a lot of other questions or guidelines that can be used to decide what topic or topics should be included. Nevertheless, the main thing is to keep these topics relevant, useful, and well-timed.
Now in case we aren’t sure about where to start, then by far the most common reasons of jobsite accidents and fatalities are fall-related incidents. Moreover, other very common topics to cover are ladders, scaffolding and training requirements for fall protection. More vital topics consist of chemical hazard communication, heavy machinery, equipment safety and eye and face protection.
An extremely significant factor for effective performance of a 5 minute safety talk is documenting these efforts as evidence they were completed. The main thing is that an organisation should be carrying out these safety talks on a regular basis and give proper attention to what can be improved when delivering them.
If you are looking for relevant safety talks for your company, then we have a large number to choose from.
Alternatively, if you are looking for a range of ready to deliver toolbox talks, then you might be interested in our toolbox talk packages. These include a range of toolbox talks at a cost-effective price.
