Toolbox Talk · ~5 minutes

# 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.

[Print the sign-in sheet](https://bluecraneworks.ca/tools?form=toolbox-talk-sign-in#form-library)
[All toolbox talks](https://bluecraneworks.ca/toolbox-talks.html)

## 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:

[Toolbox talk sign-in sheet](https://bluecraneworks.ca/tools?form=toolbox-talk-sign-in#form-library)
[Worker orientation](https://bluecraneworks.ca/tools?form=worker-orientation#form-library)
[WHMIS training record](https://bluecraneworks.ca/tools?form=whmis-training-record#form-library)

## A new talk every week.

The toolbox talks page rotates a featured topic weekly — bookmark it, or grab the talk by email every Monday.

[This week’s talk](https://bluecraneworks.ca/toolbox-talks.html)
[Next: Eye Protection](https://bluecraneworks.ca/toolbox-talks/eye-protection.html)

[Silica Dust](https://bluecraneworks.ca/toolbox-talks/silica-dust.html)
[All 126 contractor forms](https://bluecraneworks.ca/tools#form-library)

## Next, from Blue Crane

- [**Safe Work Procedure template**Write the procedure this talk refers to](https://bluecraneworks.ca/safe-work-procedure-template.html)

- [**WSIB Form 7**What to file when someone does get hurt](https://bluecraneworks.ca/wsib-form-7-employers-report.html)

- [**Document Control Systems**Sign-offs, certs and safety records, provable in under a minute](https://bluecraneworks.ca/solutions/document-control.html)

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Source: https://bluecraneworks.ca/toolbox-talks/new-worker-first-week