Supervisors safety talks

Weekly safety talks should be given to reinforce training, safety rules, safe practices, and unique ladder applications. Supervisors should give safety talks on ladders similar to the information that is found in Tables 18.5 and 18.6. 

Safety talks are especially important to supervisors in the workplace and on worksites because they afford each supervisor the opportunity to convey, in a timely manner, important information to workers. Safety talks may not be as effective as one-on-one communications, but they still surpass a memorandum or written message. In the 5 to 10 minutes prior to the workday, during a shift, at a break, or as needed, this... 

Safety talks, sometimes called toolbox talks, are an important training tool for the safety and health department and the supervisor. These safety talks can be used to cover a wide range of important safety topics in real time or immediately after mishaps or near-misses have occurred. Safety talks have the benefit of incorporating specific company issues and concerns. 

These safety talks may be held more frequently depending on the circumstances (i.e., fatality, injury, new operations, etc.). The snpervisor/foreman will provide appropriate materials (handouts, audio/visual aids, etc.) to discussion leaders in advance of each meeting. Discussion leaders will be selected for each meeting by the supervisor/foreman. 

Safety talks are usually short, informal meetings conducted by workplace supervisors with their crews or crew members. These safety talks are particularly effective in keeping employees motivated in using the correct safety practices. These short meetings are best directed to the work being done the day of the talk or in the near future. AWWA publishes a series of safety talks that can be used or adopted to match a utility s circumstances. 

Supervisors/foremen will conduct weekly work group sessions, also known as safety talks/... 

Safety training Supervisors, operators, and field crews will participate in weekly safety talks about various safety topics. Selected staff may receive more intensive training on particular subjects related to their work situations. All employees... 

Business and Legal Reports, Inc. Good Housekeeping, Supervisor s Safety Talks. December 1993, pp. 115.1-... 

The role of site management in the enforcement of basic PPE can also be seen in the ease with which it is used when we are talking about safety on sites. PPE is often the easiest thing to grasp, as this supervisor does when talking about unsafety ... 

You are the safety professional is a large manufacturing facility. During your weekly safety inspections, an employee asks to talk with you privately. After moving away from the production area, the employee tells you that he is being called names with racial references by his supervisor. The employee states that when he asked the supervisor to stop calling him these names, the supervisor transferred him to the hardest job in the department. The employee expresses to you that he needs this job and doesn t want to cause any problems. He simply wants the supervisor to stop the name calling and to get moved back to his job. What should the safety professional do ... 

If yon ate worried about health and safety in your workplace, talk lo your employei, supervisor, ce h[Pg.6]

You can use some of the information provided in this manual to help you determine this preparation step. Each topic covered in the Toolbox Talks Topic chapter has standardized information, the first section of each topic is intended for you, the safety supervisor or trainer. That section covers three particular categories of interest for the trainer that can help you in determining what information you should cover ... 

They [safety representatives] can be very useful sometimes, it is the link you know with the shop floor, they see more sometimes than the front-line supervisors can see. People, the shop-floor people themselves, can approach the safety representatives, whereas they may not go to the supervisor, they can talk more freely with them about problems and they pass these problems on, so they are a useful link in achieving a good standard of health and safety, (interviewee 116)... 

In the case of managers and supervisors an informal chat seemed to comprise a telling off , whereas safety representatives preferred the description point out the non-compliance . All directors and safety officers expected something to be done if non-compliance was witnessed. This group would first adopt an informal persuasive approach and talk personally to the offender. In the event of persistent non-compliance they would escalate their disciplinary response. Some pointed out that their response would vary according to the severity of the non-compliance. If it was serious then they would talk to the offender and contact his line manager too ... 

Well I have never really analysed the cost, obviously there must be a cost involved but in terms of the equipment I should think that it is not over expensive if you compare it, in my department, to the sort of budgets we are using for the actual work. I mean we are talking hundreds of thousands of pounds and perhaps a couple of thousand pounds worth for safety equipment, (supervisor, interviewee 64)... 

Can managers and supervisors talk about safety as they can about quality and production [3,4]... 

Managers and supervisors should plan to have regular discussions to learn about the problems faced by employees and discuss possible solutions. Some meetings, like the safety committee, are specifically planned for safety matters, but this should be reinforced by discussing health and safety issues at all routine management meetings. Regular one-to-one talks should also take place in the workplace, preferably to a planned... 

An employee stops you on the production floor while you are conducting an inspection. The employee asks to talk to you about a safety issue impacting production. You respond, "How can I help you " The employee communicates that production has been slowed due to a guard being removed from a machine. The employee further states that she has told her supervisor several times, and he only responds with sexist remarks. She wanted to tell you because this situation and her reporting this to her supervisor has resulted in her being transferred to another job and her overtime cut, which affects her pay and childcare situation. 

To hold a weekly toolbox talk on the previous weeks safety issues Check/attend/sample the toolbox talks Provide comment to the supervisor on the content and the impact of the toolbox talk... 

James remembers one situation that was used to motivate employees in assessing and correcting hazards. A team was created to assess and identify hazards in the workplace. This team (comprised of one manager, supervisor, maintenance technician, and production employees) was provided a budget of 10,000 to fix any safety-related issues that were identified. The objective was to talk to employees about potential safety hazards, establish a priority, and then correct as many issues as they could with their allotted funds. 

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