What is a toolbox talk?

A toolbox talk is a short talk to the workforce about one health and safety topic. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) describes it as “a short presentation to the workforce on a single aspect of health and safety”.^[1] It is usually given on site by a supervisor, and it should only take a few minutes.

Done well, a toolbox talk gets people thinking about a risk they will face that week. Done badly, it is someone reading from a sheet while everyone waits to sign it.

Does the law say you must give toolbox talks?

No law mentions toolbox talks by name. However, the law does say that employers must give their workers the information, instruction, training and supervision they need to work safely.^[2] Workers must also be trained again when they face new or bigger risks, for example when new equipment arrives or the way of working changes.^[3] On construction sites, the principal contractor must also consult the workers about anything on the job that could affect their health and safety.^[4]

A toolbox talk is one of the simplest ways to do all three, and HSE gives toolbox talks as an example of how a site can keep its workers briefed as the job goes on.^[5]

Toolbox talk or daily briefing?

They are different things. The daily activity briefing is about today's plan: what work is happening, where it is happening and who is doing it. A toolbox talk covers one safety topic in more depth. Many sites give a toolbox talk once a week, or whenever the risks change, and keep it separate from the daily briefing so that neither one gets too long.^[6]

How to choose a topic

The best topic is the one that matters on your site this week. These are good places to look:

• Work that is about to start. If digging starts on Monday, talk about buried cables and pipes on Friday.
• Something that went wrong, or nearly did. A near miss on your own site will hold people's attention far better than an example from a book.
• Something you keep seeing done wrong, such as barriers being moved and not put back.
• A change in the weather, such as the first cold snap or a spell of hot days.
• Anything new, such as a new machine, a new material or a new way of doing a job.

If you need material to work from, HSE publishes free toolbox talks on subjects such as ladders, roof work and manual handling.^[1] CITB's Toolbox Talks book (GT700) is the standard paid reference. It is written for site supervisors, and it is the book used on CITB's site supervisor safety course (SSSTS).^[7]

How to give a talk that sticks

1. Keep it to one topic, and keep it short.
2. Give it where the work is happening, and use the real equipment or the real place if you can.
3. Use an example from your own site rather than a general one.
4. Ask questions rather than reading from a script. “What would you check before you get in that trench?” gets people thinking. “Any questions?” usually doesn't.
5. Give people the chance to raise their own concerns, and write down anything that needs doing about them.

CITB describes toolbox talks as a way of “stimulating discussion and obtaining feedback”, as well as a way of passing on advice.^[7] The talk works best when the gang does some of the talking.

What to write down

For every talk, write down the date, the topic, who gave it and the main points it covered. Ask everyone who attended to print their name and sign. Note any questions that came up and any actions agreed, with who will do them and by when. CITB's book includes a log of talks given and a record sheet for exactly this.^[7]

No law sets out what the record must look like. Its job is to show, if anyone asks later, that people were told about a risk and when they were told. A sheet with the topic, the date and a list of signatures proves far more than a line in the diary saying “toolbox talk given”. It also helps to put the topic on the day's briefing sheet, so the two records point to each other.