The New Worker's First Week
New workers get hurt at multiples of everyone else's rate — not because they're careless, but because nobody told them the things everyone else 'just knows' about this site.
How to run it
Read it through once, then talk it — don't recite it. Five minutes at the start of the shift, crew standing where the work happens. Under O. Reg. 213/91, s. 14(3)–(4), the talk is held by a supervisor or a competent person the supervisor appoints — and the sign-in sheet is what proves it happened.
Talk through these points
- Day one is an orientation, not a favour: site hazards, emergency muster, first aid, washrooms, who their supervisor actually is.
- Pair them with someone experienced — an actual name with actual responsibility, not 'watch the guys.'
- Tell them the site-specific stuff no card teaches: where the trench is, which floor's not decked, what today's crane picks mean for where to stand.
- Make asking questions cheap. The new worker who's afraid to look dumb is the one who improvises around a hazard.
- Check their tickets before their tasks — WHMIS, working at heights, equipment competencies. 'He said he's done it before' is not a record.
- Check in at the end of week one, on purpose. What confused them is what your orientation is missing.
Ask the crew
- Who's newest on this crew, and who's actually mentoring them?
- What almost got YOU in your first month that we should be telling new hires?
- Are the new guy's tickets on file, or in his other jacket?
The answers are the real talk. If a question lands on a live hazard, write it down and assign it a name and a date.
Paper it
A talk without a record didn't happen, as far as anyone who asks is concerned. Print these free:
A new talk every week.
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