Taking the time to hold safety huddles and give toolbox talks is important to building a strong safety culture. Whether led by a foreman, supervisor, or safety professionals, the most effective safety trainings, where the information is remembered and put into practice, are when the crew participates. Click below to download this as a handout:

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Here are some tips for giving an effective toolbox talk.

Prepare:

  • Take about 15 minutes to become familiar with the Toolbox Talk content.
  • Come up with examples from your job site.
  • Prepare your sign-in sheet to record who attends the toolbox talk.

Engage Your Team:

  • Ask the crew questions. Avoid only lecturing. Call on volunteers to answer questions.
  • Ask if crew members have personal experience with the hazard being covered, or if they see it on the job site.
  • Give crew members a chance to ask questions.

Stay Focused:

  • Give more crew members a chance to talk. Try to avoid having one crew member dominate – this isn’t time to regale everyone with stories.
  • Stick to the topic. If issues come up that are not related to the toolbox talk, make a note of them and address them at a later toolbox talk, or at a different huddle.
  • Be a humble expert. If you don’t know an
  • answer to a question, don’t guess. Write down the question so that you can answer it later.

Use GBCA’s Toolbox Talks Toolkit

  • Access GBCA’s Toolbox Talks on your mobile device via QR code (click above).
  • Workers can also reference toolbox talks on their own devices if they need reminders about safety hazards. Toolbox Talks can be given any time, any place!
  • Use the GBCA Toolbox Talk Sign-In Sheet to keep your records.
    • The Sign-In Sheet can be downloaded below, be found in the Toolbox Talks Toolkit, and is included with each GBCA Toolbox Talk post.
  • The GBCA Sign-In Sheet is a fillable pdf:
    • Record who attended digitally from your mobile device.
    • Use the “Edit” function (available in programs such as Adobe Reader) to draw in signatures.
    • The Presenter should sign each completed Sign-In Sheet to verify the list of attendees.
DOWNLOAD THE GBCA SAFETY TOOLBOX TALK SIGN-IN SHEET

 

For more information on how to conduct a Safety Toolbox Talk, contact us at safety@gbca.com.

 

Access GBCA’s full library of toolbox talks:

GBCA TOOLBOX TALK TOOLKIT