Going Digital with Toolbox Talks: Solving Top FAQs for Construction Clients!
We make mobile forms and apps for construction sites that help safety officers do their job more efficiently. Thousands of sites use our services, and we’ve noticed some common questions come up when people use our drag-and-drop mobile safety forms and apps for the construction industry.
These are the most common problems and FAQs our clients ask us to solve when it comes to toolbox talks in the construction industry.
Things like:
- How do I make a good toolbox talk?
- How do I make toolbox talks faster?
- How do I make an effective toolbox talk?
- How can I keep an audit trail?
- How can I get a report of who’s completed what and when?
These are all questions we get asked a lot!
So, here are some FAQs about toolbox talks for the construction industry and how you can improve them.
What is a Toolbox Talk?
A toolbox talk is a short, usually informal meeting where the employer or site manager, shift manager, training manager (or any manager) and employees go through specific safety topics related to their company or industry.
Toolbox talks are designed to help workers recognise, avoid or manage potential hazards on site, and are a great way for employers to keep safety on everyone’s mind. They also open the floor up to discussion and make sure that everyone is on the same page regarding health and safety regulations relative to their site and role.
Toolbox talks can be held on-site, virtually using paperless toolbox talks that you share digitally or as part of a larger safety training program offsite. They usually last between 10 and 15 minutes (if you’re well prepared) and are typically held before the start of a shift or before a major task is undertaken.
They provide a way for/to:
- Managers/supervisors and employees to discuss safety-related concerns.
- Supervisors to roll out and discuss new legislation.
- Discuss previous incidents on construction sites/with power tools etc.
- Highlight potential hazards of the day – if a crane is being used, nail gun etc.
- Everyone to understand and comply with the relevant safety regulations.
- Educate employees on the importance of following safety protocols.
- Highlight potential consequences of not following safety protocols.
Although usually documented on paper, when used in the form of digital toolbox talk forms, or mobile forms, they are completely reliable, trackable ways of achieving compliance and even getting digital sign-off on safe-to-work procedures.
When we were developing your toolbox talks app, we made sure you could create each toolbox talk in a standard format so users would be familiar with the design and layout each time they take a talk – regardless of site, industry or subject. The platform is designed to work with you.
All you do is change the site or select a new screen and your toolbox talk can appear.
Paper vs Digital Toolbox Talks – what’s better?
When you use digital toolbox talk forms or build your own toolbox talks app, you’ve got an ironclad record that your supervisor did exactly what they were supposed to do on the day!
With paper, you can obviously lose them, misplace them or damage them – there’s also less chance you can find the right audit trail when you need it when using paper.
One of the main construction-orientated Toolbox Talks FAQs we get asked is “why should I switch to mobile forms, from paper forms?”. So we went all in-on the benefits below.
We’ve covered the 7 benefits of digital toolbox talks forms for construction, but here’s a quick summary of why digital toolbox talks are better than paper ones:
- You can access safety info anytime, anywhere with digital talks.
- Digital talks are faster to create, distribute, and update than printed ones.
- Digital talks can be more engaging with quizzes, videos, and pics.
- You can track digital talks to make sure everyone’s up-to-date.
- Going digital is better for the environment by reducing paper waste.
What Are The Benefits of Using Toolbox Talks in construction?
The most important benefit of any toolbox talk is that they make sure your workers are aware of the risks associated with their job, and that they’re taking the time to stay safe – whether hooking on with a harness, using PPE or simply asking for help when needed.
From an organisational POV, they offer legal protection that you have taken the appropriate steps to educate your workers on safety. They also help you achieve certain certifications, that improve your standing when it comes to winning jobs.
Toolbox talks are also an effective tool for employers to keep their employees informed of any changes in safety regulations and to emphasise the importance of following them.
In addition, toolbox talks provide an opportunity for employees to voice any safety-related concerns they may have and for employers to address those concerns there and then.
Another key benefit of toolbox talks is that they can help to prevent workplace accidents. You know that by discussing safety topics regularly, employers are more likely to identify potential hazards before they become a problem, reducing the risk of accidents overall! In addition, access to your Mobile Bi may save workers lives!
They also provide an opportunity for employers to recognise and reward employees who demonstrate safe working practices, if that is something you want to do to increase morale.
How long should a toolbox talk take?
Toolbox talks should only take 5 – 10 minutes but we know they often take longer.
Your toolbox talks shouldn’t take up much of your time – 5 – 10 minutes maximum each morning. If it drags on, you risk losing the attention of your workers and important information being ignored. However short, you should allow 5 minutes for questions.
We actually help make your toolbox talks more streamlined with quick and easy mobile forms with automation and required fields. You’re done in half the time, fully compliant, and you have records of what’s been discussed.
One of the main disadvantages of toolbox talks in construction is making them too long. So keep it short, yet authoritative and informative!
What makes a successful toolbox talk?
A good toolbox talk is engaging, relative to the task at hand and gets buy-in from the workers involved. For a toolbox talk to be successful, you need a good quality subject relative to your worker’s skill set or surroundings, visual aids and media/content where possible, interesting delivery that doesn’t bore people, and good record keeping.
Without any of these requirements, you risk your toolbox talk being boring, irrelevant and unsafe if no one’s listening.
In 2 minutes, you can create a toolbox talk using our drag-and-drop digital toolbox talk templates, get to the point and even cut paperwork out completely. Don’t waste time you don’t have.
How can I make toolbox talks faster
Here are 5 ways you can make your toolbox talk a LOT faster.
1. Go digital
Swap out traditional paper forms or presentations for digital toolbox talks that use videos, audio recordings and slideshows that you can share via a task to others smartphones. Speed is just one of the benefits of paperless construction toolbox talks and access to Mobile BI captured by these talks can actually save your workers lives.
2. Have a plan
Give everyone a clear structure and a list of topics to go over during the talk. We’ve shown you how to write a toolbox talk for the construction industry but if you have a plan and stick to it, you reduce the chance of going off track!
3. Keep it short!
Aim for 10-20 minutes max including questions- any longer and people’s minds will wander.
4. Visuals will help
Break up the toolbox talk with diagrams, illustrations and photos to help explain complex concepts quickly. Just listening to you talk is not always the best way for people to learn.
5. Make it interactive
Ask questions or quiz people at the end to make sure the message sticks and has been understood.
Writing a toolbox talk for construction doesn’t have to be a lot of work if you do it digitally.
If you have to do 5-minute safety talks every day, our app-based toolbox talks can help you streamline your toolbox talk and keep accurate records for auditing and safety purposes.
We’ve done all the hard work for you and created 100s of templates ready for you to drag and drop.
Just pick your topic, and you can skip all the hard work. Dragging all the info into your business app.
One of the main toolbox talks FAQs we get asked, and a problem we are asked to solve is to make them quicker. Mobile forms, or paperless toolbox talks do just that!
How would residential construction firms use toolbox talks differently to commercial construction firms?
In short, residential construction firms and commercial construction firms will approach safety toolbox talks differently based on the types of projects, the size of their workforce, and the complexity of their operations. Residential may focus on basic safety like PPE and ladder safety, whereas commercial may focus on working at heights, dealing with hazardous substances (asbestos) and lockout/tagout procedures.
Let’s break it down a little more:
Residential:
Again, for residential construction firms, safety toolbox talks should focus on basic safety protocols and general safety, with a focus on how to safely go about day-to-day tasks and use certain power tools for example. You may want to include topics such as personal protective equipment, ladder safety, evacuation protocols (fire escapes), power tool and scaffolding safety.
Commercial:
Commercial construction firms may have more complex safety protocols and be at greater risk of accidents due to the larger scale of their operations. More people, more tools = more danger.
Therefore, commercial safety toolbox talks should be more comprehensive and cover additional topics that are more specific to their operations. This may include topics such as electrical safety, detailing more stringent regulations around fire safety, emergency exits, and accessibility and taking into account hazardous materials, lockout/tagout procedures, emergency response protocols, and working at heights.
Due to the scope of the project and the number of workers onsite, toolbox talks may need to be more in-depth as you have a variety of different skillsets and machinery being operated at any given time.
Fortunately, our platform has digital toolbox talks for residential and commercial construction, with 100s of templates to choose from.
Read more about the differences between residential construction vs commercial construction safety toolbox talks.
Using forms2 to create digital toolbox talks in 50% of the time
Creating digital Toolbox Talks is a piece of cake with forms2 mobile forms!
Why go through the hassle of manually writing safety forms and filling out paper sheets when you can simply use our business app platform to make digital toolbox talks?
Our toolbox talk app platform is super easy to use on any tablet or smartphone (iOS, Android, and Windows included), saving you time, effort and even travel expenses as you can share toolbox talks anywhere in the world, digitally.
- No more lost pieces of paper.
- Full audit trail.
- Multi-language platform.
Plus, we’ve taken care of all the hard work for you by building 100s of templates that you can drag and drop into your app! It’s also one of many types of business apps you can build with forms2.
Want to learn how to write a construction toolbox talk in half the time it takes on paper? Just chat with one of our platform specialists today or take advantage of our 14-day free trial!
14-day trial. No Fee. No obligation. Try today.
A toolbox talk is a short, usually informal meeting where the employer or site manager, shift manager, training manager (or any manager) and employees go through specific safety topics related to their company or industry.
