By Joanna Weekes

As we discussed in Wednesday’s OH&S Bulletin, inductions are essential to your safety management system.

The induction process:

• Ensures that new workers and contractors develop good work habits that are consistent with safe work practices;
• Enables new workers and contractors to feel like part of your company;
• Demonstrates a commitment by your company to promote safe working practices; and
• Ensures new workers and contractors understand expectations and company values.

And as promised, today we have some information for you about what you should include in the formal induction process you go through with new workers.

Does your induction process comply with health and safety requirements?

Many workplace inductions do not satisfy health and safety requirements because they do not have a strong enough focus on health and safety issues, such as safe working procedures. For example, many inductions introduce the worker into the company’s policies, procedures, culture and people but not to its safe operating procedures.

9 things to include in an induction

The following is a handy list for you to use when determining what elements should be included in your induction process:

• Review the job description and expectations of the role.
• Explain how the worker’s job fits into the company’s operations.
• Explain your products and customers.
• Review the worker’s salary and other benefits.
• Show the physical layout of the workplace.
• Provide an orientation to the worker’s local work area, including logging on to computers, stationery supplies, use of phones, introduction to colleagues, etc.
• Go through your workplace policies and procedures, especially the code of conduct, harassment policies, health and safety policies, and emergency procedures.
• Detail the safe work practices that are relevant to the worker’s role.
• Explain how to access health and safety information.

An induction must be provided before the worker starts performing the activity in question, especially for high-risk work, e.g., using a forklift.

If you are a subscriber to the OH&S Handbook, please refer to chapter Training and Induction, for more detail about how to train and induct your workers effectively.