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EDUCATION / TRAINING / COMMUNICATION

 
Education and Training Policy

Scaffold Depot recognizes that training and education of workers is a vital part of our health and safety program. Our employees must have the knowledge and skills to do their work in a safe manner. Safety instruction will be provided to all workers, and workers are required to comply with these instructions.

Our program of worker education and training will consist of:

  • Conducting worker orientation sessions for new workers and site specific orientations.
  • Conducting Toolbox Talks on a regular basis during construction projects.
  • Developing safe job procedures and instructing workers in these procedures.
  • Monitoring ongoing requirements for health and safety instruction.
  • Delivering specialized training for employees as may be required.

 

Job specific training of employees is conducted when, but is not limited to the following situations:

  • When a new employee is hired.
  • When an employee is assigned new or different work.
  • When and employee is moved to a new site or location

 

This training will be conducted by the employee’s immediate supervisor and will contain the following items:

  • Review of safe work practices and procedures that apply to the specific job.
  • Bring all known safety hazards that may affect the employee to his/her attention.
  • Determine just what the employee can do and how he/she does it. This includes both discussion with the employee and observation of how he/she does the work.
  • Provide the employee with all information that is necessary for the employee to do the job safely and correctly.

 

Depending on the complexity of the job and the employees skill/experience level, job specific training may take anywhere from a few minutes to several months. Ensure training documentation is kept on site and made available to Scaffold Depot upon request. The on-going monitoring and coaching of the worker is a major duty and responsibility of that worker’s immediate Supervisor/Foreman.

 

New / Young Worker Orientation

 

Employees of Scaffold Depot will receive an orientation session. This new worker orientation will be used to review general health and safety program requirements as required by WorkSafeBC regulations. Orientations will also be conducted at the start of new projects that deals with site/project specific health & safety requirements.

Orientation of new employees and all contractors and their employees is mandatory and must be completed prior to commencement of work on all sites.  It is the responsibility of the trade supervisor/foreman to ensure their workers complete the Scaffold Depot Orientation prior to starting work.
 
The orientation will include safety information specific to the site/project and the expected duties the worker will perform. The site superintendent, health & safety coordinator, or worker’s supervisor may conduct the orientation session. As a minimum the site specific safety orientation should include (but not be limited to) the following:

 

  • The identification of worksite hazards, and the safe procedures for dealing with these hazards
  • How to report hazards, injuries, accidents and near misses
  • Information regarding current site-specific safe work procedures in use
  • The requirements for personal protective equipment to be used generally on site, and for specific tasks
  • The location of safety reference materials including:

 

1. Written safe work proceduresHealth & Safety Manual

2. Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)

3. WORKSAFE BC Occupational Health & Safety Regulation (OHSR)

4. Workers Compensation Act

 The initial orientation training needs to be followed-up with further training of workers when any of the following conditions exist:

 

  • The work to be conducted has not been done before, and new or modified work procedures are required
  • There is an obvious skills and/or knowledge gap that prevents the worker from completing tasks as required
  • A worker requests training for work activities with which they are not familiar
  • WORKSAFE BC directs that training is required

 

Scaffold Depot will assist the employee in ensuring that the required training takes place. The training will be competency based in order for it to be effective and meet the test of due diligence. Competency based means that the essential skills and knowledge required to do the work correctly have been identified, included in the training, and passed on to the worker.

 

Toolbox Talks

 

Toolbox Talks are a key element of worker education and training. Toolbox Talks must be conducted with a specific topic for discussion such as a safety rule, safe job procedure, a recent incident, health and safety committee meeting minutes, inspection results, etc.  They will be used to discuss hazards and provide information on how we will minimize or remove the risk of injury.  All workers on site must attend the Toolbox Talks, which will generally be 15 minutes or less in duration.

 

The following basic guidelines for Toolbox Talks are to be followed:

  • Toolbox Talks are to be held before the commencement of a different scope of work.
  • All workers must attend.
  • Meetings should be limited to 10 to 15 minutes.
  • Records of these meetings will be kept in the “Safety Meetings” booklet based on the elevator industry.

 

Toolbox Safety Meeting Preparation and Presentation
 

Preparing for Tool-Box Safety Meetings involves:

1. Deciding on a topic:

  • think of your own experiences, observations, and beliefs,
  • think of your area of control, repeated problems, recent accomplishments, needs for improvement, think of your workers, their wants and needs, opinions, and attitudes,
  • keep notes of day-to-day occurrences that could form a basis for interesting safety talks,
  • read safety-related material, and clip articles for later discussion,
  • confine the topic to one main idea; don't try to talk about everything!

 

2.  Summarizing your talk in point form for reference:

  • know what you are going to say,
  • write down the key points, facts and examples,
  • practice your talk - run through your material before presenting it to your workers, perhaps using a family member, a fellow supervisor or even a mirror as your audience.
  • know what you are going to say,
  • write down the key points, facts and examples,
  • practice your talk - run through your material before presenting it to your workers, perhaps using a family member, a fellow supervisor or even a mirror as your audience.

 

When you deliver your talk:

  • relate to the crew's attitudes, abilities and interests,
  • let your crew hear and see your talk - use brief demonstrations, simple graphs, displays, WCB posters, news articles, accident location, etc.,
  • involve your crew by encouraging questions and discussions,
  • keep your message clear and understandable,
  • answer spoken and unspoken questions - your crew will always have the following questions in mind: What does it mean to me? What do you want me to do? What's in it for me? What will happen if I opt out?

 

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