Training, including workplace inductions, is one of the best ways to ensure that the people in your business are safe while at work.
Follow our induction checklist to ensure new and returning workers understand their work environment, their job expectations and employment conditions.
Effective training ensures workers know about issues that will or could affect their health and safety. It provides them with information about the potential risks associated with their work, the safety policies and procedures you have in place, as well as how to work safely and deal with emergencies.
Our training plan and training record will help your recordkeeping requirements.
When you provide training, ask the people in your business what they think to help make it relevant and effective. South Australian legislation requires you to provide your workers with any information, instruction, training and supervision necessary to ensure their health and safety at work.
To make your training effective:
- pace your training over several days as workers they may feel overwhelmed with too much information at once
- give clear verbal and written instructions
- demonstrate and explain how to perform tasks safely; watch participants complete the tasks and correct any mistakes and check on their competency after a set period such as a week
- encourage them to ask questions
- be patient.
Employer responsibilities
Employers should:
- provide new workers and workers who are new to a task, with effective induction, information, instruction, training and supervision to ensure that they are competent to work safely
- ensure that supervisors are competent to manage workers from a variety of backgrounds including: new and young workers, workers from a non-English speaking background etc
- provide an induction that explains how you manage work health and safety at your workplace – see Induction
- involve the people who work in your business to identify and report hazards and put reasonably practicable measures in place to control them
- involve the people who work in your business to identify and report hazards and put reasonably practicable measures in place to control them
- develop safe work procedures with worker input to document the risks associated with a work situation or task and the appropriate risk control measures
- use safe work procedures as a tool for informing and training the people who work in your business.
Worker responsibilities
Workers should:
- identify and report hazards
- constructively participate in determining risk controls
- contribute to a safe workplace by taking responsibility for your safety and the safety of people you work with
- speak up if you don’t fully understand the task
- use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) where required for the task such as Hi-Viz clothing, safety glasses and gloves
- follow all relevant safe work procedures.
Informing, training and supervising checklist
Check the safety of your business by completing our work health and safety checklist to identify hazards at your workplace and determine which areas you may want to start with for improvement.
| Always | Sometimes | Never | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Are all workers inducted? | |||
| Are workers trained in your safe work procedures and can they demonstrate ability to do the tasks safely? | |||
| Are workers adequately supervised to ensure safe work procedures are followed? | |||
| Do you speak to workers about their training needs? | |||
| Is a training plan in place and records kept of each worker’s training? | |||
| Are workers (especially new and young ones) inducted, trained and supervised to follow safe work procedures and can demonstrate their competency? | |||
| Is there is a procedure for visitor/contractor sign-in, including an induction process if hazardous areas are to be accessed? |