A Toolbox Talk is an informal safety meeting that focuses on safety topics related to the specific job, such as workplace hazards and safe work practices.
Meetings are normally short in duration and are generally conducted at your place of work and prior to the commencement of a job or work shift.
How to deliver a Toolbox Talk
From staying relevant to storytelling, here are a few tips to ensure your regular meetings are effective:
Talk directly to your audience. Ensure the topic is relevant to your industry and job site;
Keep it brief;
Stay positive;
Demonstrate your point;
Tell a story, not a statistic.
Choose a current subject
Has there recently been an incident or has somebody been injured? Has there been anything on the news lately which concerned safety in your industry?
Draw up a schedule
Toolbox meetings are often scheduled on a monthly basis. Communicate the schedule at the start of the project with the parties involved so that everybody is aware of them and there are no excuses to not attend.
The toolbox meetings are best held in the morning, so the contents are retained better.
Keep it short and to the point
A good guideline for the duration of a toolbox meeting is 10 to 15 minutes. Anything longer than this tends to lead to loss of concentration and the main message may get lost.
Document the meeting
Document who was present, what was discussed, and which agreements were reached.
Toolbox meetings are an ideal way (15 minutes per month) to bring the theme safety back into the limelight with all employees, in order to create a safer working environment.