Manage Staff Safely
As well as consulting with your employees on health and safety issues you must ensure that they are trained and sufficiently experienced to do their jobs safely. Until they reach this stage they need to be supervised to keep themselves and others safe. You need to arrange supervision for both new employees and employees that don’t do a task on a regular basis or are taking on a new task.
What you must do
- Assess what skills and training employees need to do the work safely.
- Provide employees with the information they need, in a way they understand, to do the work safely.
- Provide training and supervision until they can do the job safely and use any necessary safety gear properly.
- Make sure supervisors have the necessary knowledge, experience and time to supervise employees safely.
What you could do
- Check that new staff work the way you want them to. Past experience is not always good experience.
- Keep records [XLS, 20kB] of staff skills and experience – note what they have been trained to do unsupervised and what tasks require supervision and assistance.
- Check that supervisors are clear on their responsibilities and have the right experience to oversee the safety of the work. Good workers don’t always make good supervisors. Thoroughness, patience and cultural sensitivity are key qualities.
- Make sure the supervisors have the time to supervise properly. It’s no good appointing a supervisor who is too busy with other tasks.
- Think about the future. What happens if the supervisor leaves? Plan for this so that you are not left without anyone with the experience to teach others.
Health & safety induction training
Taking time to introduce new staff to your workplace properly helps them feel comfortable and be safe and productive sooner. A health and safety induction allows new employees to start self-managing their own health and safety and the safety of others.
What you must do
- Give each new employee a full health and safety briefing covering workplace hazards and safe working methods before they begin work.
- Identify and explain hazards they will be exposed to in their work as well as hazards they may create as they work.
- Explain the employee’s health and safety responsibilities and any reporting requirements for accidents or absence from work.
- Introduce the health and safety representative, fire warden, and first aider, and explain any emergency and evacuation plans.
- Show the new employee the location of first aid kits, Civil Defence kits, phones, fire extinguishers, fire alarms, emergency exits, emergency meeting points, etc.
- Explain any compulsory protective equipment and safety gear and why it must be used. Make sure the employee is properly trained in its use before they work unsupervised, and let them know the consequences if they are found working unsafely by not using their safety equipment or taking dangerous risks.
What you could do
- Follow the Health & Safety checklist for new employees [DOC 48kB] to ensure your briefing for each new employee is consistent and thorough. Get the employee to sign the checklist as part of their commitment to health and safety.
- Ask the new employee to report any ideas they may have to improve the workplace health and safety systems. Fresh eyes may spot what you’ve missed.
- Check and check again that new staff are working safely – don’t stand over them but do observe them doing their job to confirm that they are working safely, and ask them how safe they feel when performing the task. They may require additional equipment to perform the task more safely.
Specific job training
If your employees are to work safely, you need to train them for their specific tasks. Employees attempting new jobs understandably feel nervous, so reassure them by providing specific training for their tasks. Never underestimate how much time people need.
What you must do
- Ensure staff have the skills and experience they need to work safely.
- Until employees are trained to work safely, you must ensure they are supervised by somebody suitably capable and trained.
What you could do
- Appoint a ‘buddy’ to show them how to work safely. Make sure you have suitably skilled members of staff who can manage the training time.
- Keep records of staff training so you can keep track of who has attended training and who still needs to attend. See the example Employee Training Register [XLS, 20kB].
- Send staff on regular refresher courses to keep them up to date.
- Send them on an industry-specific course, for example forklift truck training, provided by an industry training organisation or tertiary provider.
- If a new employee tells you they have already been trained, ask to see their certificate to ensure it is up to date. They may need refresher training.
- It’s important to recognise language and cultural differences when providing information, training and supervision. Ensure people who speak a different first language understand the training.
- Check with new employees that their work bench or workstation suits them. Is the workbench the right height, or are the workstation and chair suitable? Encourage the employee to work through HabitAtWork to pick up tips on correct set-ups and work habits.
