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Staff Health & Safety Meetings

For those of you that have staff, do you hold any form of regular health & safety meetings or 'Toolbox talks' ? If so: - do you document this fact and/or have your staff sign-off on them ? - who decides the topics - you, staff or recent incidents ? - have you ever been asked to supply proof as part of any verbal or written H&S Policy requirement ? Just a question that came up on a PQQ and got me thinking.........

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  • I think that for most us these type of meetings/discussions 'evolve' and are relatively informal.  There is no doubt that small businesses could learn from bigger business in this respect and this is something I've often thought about and will be taking on board for next year. 

    I reckon also that annual employee 'evaluation' meetings are more than worthwhile - do we have them? Nope - another thing to think about for next year!

  • A toolbox talk at beginning of a day/week should simply consist of a run down of the tasks that are going to be carried out and how to perform them in a safe manner. Contents of RAMS are good place to start. It need not be too formal but some staff input is important to ensure they understand what's expected of them as far as health and safety is concerned.
  • PRO

    As Neil alludes to above; I formalised it a little and now we just review the jobs coming up for the week and see what equipment is going to be in use, at what site and who is/isn't familiar with it, then go from there with a discussion and then tick the box on the worksheet and skills chart.

    To do this, we have a skills matrix chart on the wall and it helps identify who is qualified, trained or has experience in the gear/jobs being scheduled.

    I have some useful documents and will put them up in The Hub when I'm next in the Yard.

  • PRO Supplier

    Hey Gary,

    Acacia are an SME and we have just last month started a new series of toolbox talks for the year. We write out a guideline document and then run through the points after lunch once or twice a month for about 20 minutes, with all attendees signing the talk sheet afterwards. They're a really good way to start discussion around issues and those dangerous processes that managers are not aware of (though you have to keep tabs on the conversation topic - has a tendency to go off course a touch!)

    At the moment we are running the talks based on the risk assessment completed for this year to make sure all safety points are covered, but we will also look at the accident record to prevent mistakes being made twice as well, and we are including both the COSHH and Fire Risk Assessment information.

    We have had to supply evidence when applying for large contracts and supplier accreditation forms, which are becoming more and more frequent for larger companies. It is good to keep track of who does and doesn't know new safety stuff as the process means looking closely at the skills and knowledge that people have of the site and safe practices.

    We found some really good toolbox talk templates online as well:
    http://toolboxtalks.ie/
    http://www.safetyawakenings.com/construction-toolbox-talks-free-bes...
    http://safety.cat.com/TBTs (American)

    - Acacia Groundcare

    Acacia Groundcare Equipment Rental
    01273 494939 | www.acaciarental.com | hire@acaciarental.com

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