Choosing the Right Topics for Toolbox Talks

30 March 2016

Toolbox Talks are a quick and easy way of informing and training workers on occupational safety and health requirements. Toolbox Talks cover a wide range of topics ranging from general hazard awareness to  behavioral-based safety. Thus, Toolbox Talks seek to create a workplace environment conducive to health and safety by identify problems or highlight specific safety concerns/risks, thereby promoting a culture of safety within the organization.

What is a Toolbox Talk?

A Toolbox Talk is a meeting session with workers of a specific department within an organization, where informal group discussions occur. These discussions focus on safety issues that may be present in the work environment. This provides information to workers, which then allows them to voice their concerns regarding hazards/controls, incidents/accidents, work processes and company procedures. Toolbox Talks do not replace formal safety training.

construction toolbox

Why are Toolbox Talks important?

Employers have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that everyone coming on site knows about the health and safety issues and are equipped to deal with them. Situations can change quite rapidly on site and by taking time out to go through potential issues it shows the company’s commitment to the well-being of their workers.

If workers can be encouraged to ‘Stop, Look, Assess and Manage’ health and safety  by fostering a health and safety culture on site, then it is positively impacts on the company’s image, as well as their workers’ job satisfaction levels.

Therefore, Toolbox Talks are a crucial part of any company’s safety management system because they:

  • Allow you and your workers to explore the risks of specific health and safety issues and think about ways to deal with them
  • Encourage worker engagement
  • Help support a planned series of site observations
  • Encourage health and safety to become everyone’s responsibility

Toolbox Talks FAQs

The following questions are answered in the guide:

  • How often should I carry out Toolbox Talks?
  • How long should each Toolbox Talk take?
  • How should I choose the topic?
  • How should I plan the Toolbox Talk session?
  • Where should the Toolbox Talk take place?
  • What methods get the best results with Toolbox Talks?
  • What kind of follow up is required?
  • What content should I include in my Toolbox Talk?

Implementing Toolbox Talks in your workplace allows input from the people who are constantly facing risks on-site. Having the open informal discussion encourages your workers to be more open and honest with safety/EHS managers about issues that they may be having, thus allowing for improvements to be made.

Toolbox talks are one out of several ways to improve safety performance on-site. Having a great employee orientation program such as GoContractor can be the best way to introduce site-specific safety regulations and standards. Interested in getting your own orientations started? Get in touch with us!

Implementing Toolbox Talks cannot only educate your workforce, it can save lives by addressing safety hazards face to face. How can we create our own successful Toolbox Talks? Download the free ebook that will guide you throughout the process!

Sonya Sikra

Sonya is the Brand Strategy Manager at GoContractor. She specializes in communicating how implementing tech in construction can drive productivity and profit.

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