Safety Talks & Creating a Culture of Injury Prevention

Short safety talks or Tool Box Talks are designed to provide a quick reminder to workers about the hazards that they face everyday to prevent complacency. These quick safety talks are often referred to as Tool Box Talks, Safety Moments, Safety Briefings, Safety Pep Talks or Tailgate Meetings. 

Tool Box Talks should take only 3-4 minutes to read over -- they are not intended to replace employee training or provide a complete description of all hazards. The purpose is to keep safety at the front of employees’ minds and foster a culture of workplace safety and injury prevention. Depending on workplace requirements, a Tool Box Talk might be given in person by a supervisor on the shop or office floor, or you could use a blend of online videos, emails and in-person talks.

What is included in a Tool Box Talk?

Tool box talks should cover the basic safety concerns and injury prevention strategies related to the topic. You can also include MOL or WSIB stats about related injuries. You can use the WSIB’s By the Numbers Report to find safety and injury data.

To make Tool Box Talks relevant to your workplace, consider including examples of workplace safety incidents and/or injuries that have happened at your workplace. You can also share examples of how proactive employee actions have helped to prevent potential safety incidents.

Download a Sample

Tool Box Talks let your employees share their experiences and help build a culture of workplace safety and injury prevention together.

Tips for giving a Tool Box Talk

1. Prepare in advance and choose a relevant topic.
You can write your own workplace-specific Tool Box Talks, or you can download prepared safety talks from websites such as SafetyTalkIdeas.com (https://www.safetytalkideas.com/safety-talks/) and personalize them for your workplace. Including examples from your experience or your workplace is the best way to convey the importance of safety at work. If you are not sure how to get started, contact us and one of our consultants can help you to develop a set of standard Tool Box Talks that you can use again and again.

2. Know your audience.
Depending on who you are presenting to, you might want to change the language or examples that you use in your Tool Box Talk. For example, if you give a Tool Box Talk related to Ergonomics to office workers you would want to use different hazard or incident examples then if you give the talk to warehouse workers.

3. Make eye contact and don’t read directly from the page. 
You can print out a Tool Box Talk to use as a guideline but make sure you look up at your audience and make eye contact while you are delivering the talk. If you don’t feel comfortable speaking in front of a group, invite a colleague to share the talk. To improve your confidence when delivering Tool Box Talks and other safety training presentations, consider attending our Train the Trainer (Mandatory Day) training class. This class will provide you with an overview of the learning theory of adult education and some of the traits that make a good trainer, and help to build your confidence when facing your peers.

4. Allow time for questions and audience participation. 
Ask the audience to share their stories and participate in the safety discussion. You don’t have to do all the talking or provide all the answers, let your employees share their experiences and build a culture of workplace safety and injury prevention together.

Sample Tool Box Talk:
Daily Risks and Creating a Culture of Safety

This topic is about the broader aspect of safety which touches all areas and can be called Daily Risk or Daily Hazard Assessments.
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We all make daily risk and hazard assessments every day. Some are just common sense – you don’t get out of shower and step on a slippery floor, you first toss down a bath mat. Some things we do because there’s a penalty or fine, like putting your seatbelt on when you get in a car. The employees here are professionals – you are very good at your jobs and you do them well. We wouldn’t think to tell you how to do your jobs, but we can remind you how to be safe and how not to become complacent. You might say to us – I’ve been doing this job for 20 years and I’ve done this a thousand times – but our workplace is always changing. We purchase new equipment that might be slightly different, introduce new processes that might be very different, management changes, and new employees are hired, and this introduces changes that may result in accidents.

Complacency is something that we are all guilty of - not worrying about the interlock (“we installed the guard”) and not familiarizing yourself with a new piece of equipment (“I’ve used these things for years”). To go back to the point of working here for 20 years and never being hurt – you might have lived in your house on your street for over 20 years. You’ve crossed that street a thousand times and never been hurt but would you do it blindfolded? Of course not, you’ll never stop looking before crossing.

We need to remind ourselves and others to do those daily hazard assessments and speak up – talk about safety. Do it in a positive and proactive manner – “hey, wait! You’re going to get stuff in your eyes if you do that – here, use my safety glasses”. Or, “hold on guys, I’m going to get the supervisor to take a look at this – I don’t think it’s safe”. If we stop talking about safety, then so will you and people will be afraid or intimidated to say something. We will never stop talking about safety.

One of our goals is to encourage and enhance the Safety Culture in our workplace. Don’t become complacent and don’t take the short cut. Look at your jobs today with fresh eyes and make those daily risk assessments. Take the time to tape down the extension cords and put on your safety glasses and SPEAK UP when you see someone doing something hazardous or creating a hazardous situation. Your actions will rub off on others - most importantly our young workers – who won’t feel intimidated or afraid to speak up when their safety is at stake. Let’s all be leaders in safety

Download a Sample

This is an example of a Tool Box Talk about Daily Risks and Creating a Culture of Safety. Different workplace environments have different health and safety needs. It is the employer's responsibility to ensure that all Tool Box Talks delivered are suitable for their workplace needs. If you have questions about delivering Tool Box Talks, please contact MidSouthWest and one of our consultants can provide personalized advice to help you create meaningful Tool Box Talks for your workplace environment.

Last updated Nov 1, 2019