Free toolbox talks

Falls are the leading cause of death in construction, and most of them are from heights people did not think were dangerous.

• Anchor points hold a person, not a hunch. If nobody has told you the rating, do not clip to it.
• A harness that fits wrong will injure you when it catches you. Check the leg straps every time.
• Inspect before every use. Cuts, burns, chemical stains, deformed hardware, missing labels: any one of those means it is out of service.
• If you arrest a fall, that harness is finished. It does not go back in the bag.

Finish with: Check your own harness now, in front of each other, rather than trusting last month.

Hazard communication is the most cited standard in the country, and the reason is almost always the same: nobody could find the information.

• Every container that leaves its original packaging still needs a label. Every one, including the one you filled five minutes ago.
• The pictogram is the fast version. The safety data sheet is the real version.
• Section 4 of the SDS is first aid. Know where the sheets are before you need section 4.
• A chemical you have used for years is still a chemical you were trained on for a reason.

Finish with: Pick a container in this area. Can everyone here find its SDS in under a minute?

The most expensive respirator in the world does nothing if air gets in around the edge.

• Facial hair in the seal area breaks the seal. There is no workaround and no exception.
• Do a user seal check every single time you put it on. Positive and negative.
• Fit testing is for the exact make, model and size you will wear. A different mask means a different test.
• If breathing gets harder through the shift, the cartridge is loading. Change it, do not push through.

Finish with: Everyone do a seal check right now while we watch.

Every year people are killed by equipment that was switched off but not isolated. Off is not the same as safe.

• Who here has ever cleared a jam without locking out? Be honest, nobody is in trouble.
• Stored energy is the one that catches people: springs, hydraulics, gravity, capacitors. Switching off does not release it.
• Your lock is yours. One lock, one person, one key. Never let someone else remove it for you.
• If you cannot verify zero energy with a test, you are not locked out yet.

Finish with: Before your next service task, say out loud what energy sources you isolated. If you cannot list them, stop.

Ladder falls are ordinary, frequent, and almost always caused by a shortcut that saved thirty seconds.

• One foot out for every four feet up. Guess it and you are usually too steep.
• Extend three feet above the landing, and tie it off at the top.
• Carry nothing in your hands while climbing. Hoist it or wear it.
• The top two rungs are not steps. Neither is the pail shelf.

Finish with: Look at the ladder on this site. Is it set at the right angle right now?

Most forklift injuries are not to the operator. They are to somebody walking past.

• A loaded truck can weigh four times a car and it stops nothing like one.
• Make eye contact with the operator before crossing. If you cannot see their face, they cannot see you.
• Never walk under raised forks, even briefly, even when the truck is off.
• Operators: sound the horn at every blind corner, every time, even when you are sure nobody is there.

Finish with: Name the two blind corners on this site where a pedestrian and a truck could meet.

Guards get taken off to fix something and then never go back, and the next person does not know it is missing.

• If you can reach the point of operation, so can your sleeve, your glove or your hair.
• A guard that makes the job impossible is a guard that will be defeated. Report it instead of removing it.
• Bypassing an interlock is not a shortcut, it is the last decision some people make.
• Check guarding at the start of the shift, not when something feels wrong.

Finish with: Walk your own machine now and confirm every guard is on and fastened.

Almost every eye injury involves someone who had the right protection available and was not wearing it.

• Regular prescription glasses are not safety glasses. They are not rated and the sides are open.
• Grinding, chipping and overhead work need a face shield over the glasses, not instead of them.
• Scratched lenses get taken off. Replace them rather than squinting through them.
• Know where the eyewash is and how long you are meant to flush. Fifteen minutes is longer than it sounds.

Finish with: Point at the nearest eyewash station without looking around first.

The instinct to go in after a workmate is the thing that turns one fatality into two.

• Atmosphere is tested before entry and monitored during it. Not once, continuously.
• You cannot smell the two that kill most often. Oxygen deficiency has no smell at all.
• The attendant stays out. That is the whole job and it is the most important one.
• If someone goes down inside, you call rescue. You do not go in. Nobody goes in.

Finish with: Who is the attendant on the next entry, and what is the rescue number?

Noise-induced hearing loss is painless, gradual and never comes back.

• If you have to raise your voice to be heard at arm’s length, it is loud enough to hurt you.
• Plugs only work inserted properly. Rolled, pulled, held, released. Most people stop at rolled.
• Ringing after a shift is not normal and it is not tough. It is a warning.
• Protection you take out for ten minutes an hour loses most of its value.

Finish with: Anyone noticed the television getting louder at home lately? That is what this is about.

Hot work fires often begin well after the welding stopped, in something nobody thought was combustible.

• Thirty-five feet of clearance, or the combustibles get covered, or you do not start.
• Sparks travel further down than you expect and find gaps you did not know were there.
• The fire watch has no other job during the work, and stays for the required period after it.
• A permit is not paperwork. It is the record that somebody checked.

Finish with: On the last hot work here, who held the watch and how long did they stay?

Heat illness escalates fast, and the person suffering it is usually the last to notice.

• Drink about a cup every fifteen to twenty minutes, before you feel like it.
• New and returning workers are at highest risk. Build them up over a week, do not throw them in.
• Confusion, stumbling or stopping sweating is an emergency. Call for help, do not walk them off.
• Shade and a real rest break. Sitting in the sun is not a break.

Finish with: Who here started this week or came back from leave? Everyone keep an eye on them today.