How can you provide ongoing, job specific training for staff?

Employers must provide employees the opportunity to regularly engage in health and safety discussions. Toolbox talks are a great way of to keeping staff engaged, focused and competent to carry out specific tasks.

What is a toolbox talk?

A toolbox talk is a short, often informal safety meeting that is usually conducted before a specific job or task to re-acquaint the person or team with best practices. On average, a toolbox talk will be in the range of 5 to 20 minutes long when conducted on a regular basis. The talks can cover a range of topics or just a single focal point.

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Why are they important?

1. Refresh staff knowledge

Conducting regular toolbox talks is an effective way to deliver relevant and timely safety messages to an entire workforce, the time spent conducting these also goes a long way into reinforcing prior safety training. This can vary from basic safety matters to more detailed safety briefings for hazardous tasks.

2. Stay up to date with best practice

In many businesses, mandatory training is done annually, regular toolbox talks on a variety of subjects will ensure changes to process or legislation are communicated and understood. It is also a good opportunity to for experience staff to share experience among the workforce and ensure work practices are consistent.

3. Promote a positive culture

While Toolbox Talks do not serve as a substitute for an employee's formal safety training, they are a great way to address safety issues and concerns in the your workplace. A toolbox talk is an opportunity to proactively encourage safe behavior and improve workplace safety before an incident takes place. Keeping the focus on what can be done to create a safe work environment instead of focusing on what has gone wrong in the past.

Maximise the effectiveness

Here are a number of ways you can ensure the message is delivered, and understood.

Make it relevant - choose timely topics around recurring safety themes or upcoming changes that workers need to be aware of.
Give talks at regular intervals (daily, weekly, monthly) to establish and reinforce the importance of safety in your company’s culture.
Explain at the beginning of the talk what the aim of the session is, why the subject is important and what you expect staff to learn.
Include facts and statistics relevant to the toolbox talk, these can found on the HSE website and will bring a sense of realism.
Check employee understanding of the talk by asking questions as well as encouraging questions and discussion during the talk.
Re-emphasise the key points at the end as part of the wrap up.

Evidence attendance

Staff training is a key element of any businesses H&S controls and claims defensibility mechanism, there’s no legal obligation to document toolbox talks but you should do it anyway as it may be required as part of a businesses specific accreditation or regulatory requirements. Should it ever be required, evidence and records of toolbox talks will allow you to demonstrate your due diligence.

Keeping records will also allow the business to plan future subjects and review toolbox talks that have occurred in the past as part of a planned training schedule.

The HSE provides more information on staff training here.