This Toolbox Talk covers Health & Safety Site Induction, which is the practice of providing work-related health and safety information to all parties exposed to construction work, such as new and existing employees and visitors to the site before they engage in the work. This helps them settle and become familiar with the working environment.

Three Types of Inductions

  • Employee: Induction involves familiarising workers with the site-specific health and safety hazards that are likely to be encountered while working on the site.
  • Plant & Equipment: This relates to specialised construction Plant/machinery/equipment, ie. Erat moving equipment.
  • Visitors: These are inductions for person not permanently on your site / visiting your site ie service delivery / Client / professional team members etc.

What Should Be Included?

Project Specific Information

Construction site inductions are required by law. It is a legal requirement that every worker should have a suitable site induction on every construction site they work on. Since construction workers tend to move around to different projects regularly, that’s many site inductions!

EACH SITE INDUCTION SHOULD BE DIFFERENT – BECAUSE EACH PROJECT IS DIFFERENT.

You shouldn’t be repeating the same site induction over and over again, from project to project. A construction site induction is an introduction to a new site or project. And every project will be (at least slightly) different – even if you’re doing the same tasks, you’ll be in a new location.

Your induction should tell workers the key facts they need to know. Who to report to, what to do on arrival, what they need, what to watch out for, what to do if things go wrong and what to do when they leave.

A site induction is only suitable if it contains the health and safety information workers need to know. So, it needs to be specific to the project and the site.

There’s nothing wrong with following a standard format for your inductions, which makes sure you cover all the necessary topics. But make sure you adapt each induction to the site it’s used on. Providing your team with general information that could apply to any site, or worse, giving them information that doesn’t apply to the site, won’t help them. It won’t prepare them for the hazards and risks they are about to face. It won’t tell them the rules they need to follow. And it won’t keep them safe.

Project Details

  • Details of the types of work taking place on site and where they are located.
  • What works may be happening near the worker and the risks these could pose.
  • Detailed of restricted areas.
  • PPE requirements.
  • Site Layout, including:
    • welfare facilities.
    • access routes.
    • delivery routes.
    • storage areas.
    • escape routes.
    • fire-fighting equipment.

Site Management Details

  • Site Manager
  • Principal Contractor
  • First Aider
  • Fire Marshals
  • Client

Give your workforce information about the management of the site from day 1, so they know who to report to and who takes responsibility for what on site. They need to know who the site manager is, who the first aiders are, supervisors, fire marshals etc.

Site Specific Risks

Your workers may understand the risks associated with their own activities, but are there any unusual site site specific risks they should be aware of?

Maybe there is overhead work they need to know about? Or asbestos materials they need to avoid? Perhaps there are underground or overhead services on-site to watch out for?

Site Rules

  • Common Requirements:
    • PPE Requirements.
    • Training Requirements.
    • Housekeeping.
    • Control Measures.
    • Safety Signage.
    • Unsafe Areas.
    • Equipment Safety.
  • Construction site rules are not there to be broken. Rules are there to create a safe site. But to abide by the rules, workers need to know about them first.
  • Site Induction is the perfect place to explain which rules apply to the site.
  • The rules should be clear and easily understandable and should be brought to the attention of everyone on site who should be expected to follow them.  Any special requirements such as the need to have translations of the rules available for non-English speaking workers on site should be considered.
  • Client may insist on certain health and safety precautions, especially where their business continues at the premises while construction work is in progress.  It may assist everyone if site rules are applied.
  • Make it clear where your site rules apply and where the client premises rules apply.  Make sure everybody knows and follows the rules that are relevant to them.

Site Procedures

  • Signing in: Explain the process for logging on and off-site.
  • Security Measures: Describe the site’s security protocols.
  • Permits to work: Detail the permit system for high-risk tasks.
  • Risk Assessments: Discuss the need for and use of risk assessments.
  • Accident Reporting: Explain how to report accidents and near misses.
  • Waste Removal: Provide waste management procedures.
  • Safety Briefings: Inform about regular safety meetings and toolbox talks.

Every site will have procedures in place. For safety, organisation and progress of the work. Signing in, security measures, permits, accident reporting, PPE, hearing protection zones, housekeeping etc. Maybe there is a specific shutdown procedure. Maybe there’s a time and place for safety briefings and toolbox talks each day. Make sure your workers know what is expected of them and the procedures they need to follow.

Site Rules

Should cover but not limited to:

  • Personal protective equipment.
  • Smoking.
  • Use of radios and mobile phones.
  • Ristricted Areas
  • Hot Works.
  • Traffic management systems.
  • Pedestrian Routes.
  • Site Tidiness.
  • Fire Prevention.
  • Permit-to-work systems.
  • Emergency arrangement.

Download the full Toolbox Talk document on the Health & Safety Site Induction below: