Tips for Effective Health and Safety Inductions

Prioritising health and safety inductions in the workplace is essential to protecting new workers from harm. Unless a worker is aware of the hazards associated with their role and understands how to manage them, mistakes and injuries are unavoidable.

Workers who have not completed a proper safety induction have a higher tendency for negligence, leading to grave consequences for both the worker and the organisation.

Check out some of our tips below for completing effective health and safety inductions!

• Plan and prepare – Planning exactly what content is required for the health and safety induction is critical to ensure you cover relevant information. You need to take into account the worker’s role and responsibilities and the hazards and risks they face on the job. You may need to adapt the induction content or format to meet their specific needs.

• Allocate enough time – You don’t want to rush through the induction. Make sure you have put aside sufficient time to take the worker through it all and provide them with opportunities to ask questions. It may be completed individually or with a group of new workers.

• Don’t make assumptions – Always make sure to check in with the worker to ensure they understand the content. Don’t assume parts can be skipped or rushed through just because they are ‘common sense’.

• Be mindful of literacy – It’s important to acknowledge the different levels of literacy for each worker. Not everyone is capable of reading pages and pages of policies. Some are visual learners. Consider an induction video or hands-on learning.

• Keep it simple – You want to avoid overwhelming the worker with too much content that they probably will end up forgetting the next day! Ensure the induction is simple but still relevant.

• Don’t forget to test for competency –  Consider a quick quiz at the end of the induction to confirm the inductees have taken in and understood the information presented.

Remember, inductions are not only for your employees. Contractors, volunteers and others working under your control should also be taken through a health and safety induction. These people may not be aware of the work environment and the hazards and risks around them, so it’s essential they are also briefed accordingly.

To read more about what an induction should include, click here.

Working Wise offers generic Health and Safety Induction packages that will help your workers settle into their new role safely. It includes an induction video and handbooks/checklists for workers and managers. The video and content can also be customised to suit your organisation. Contact us today for more information!