Toolbox talk or toolbox meeting are very critical for maintaining a healthy relationship between supervisors and workers. These meetings are a platform via which employees are kept informed about all the safety measures that are being followed in the company. In addition to this, safety-related workshops can also be conducted by the supervisors. These help in increasing awareness about workplace safety. If the toolbox talk is built effectively and progresses well, it can go a long way in improving supervisor-subordinate relationship. There are some basic things that should be kept in mind while conducting toolbox meetings. Ideally, these meetings should be conducted in a morning slot, preferably on the 1st day of every work-week. Once the workers have clocked-in for the day, ask then to converge at a particular spot. Getting them to attend this meeting early in the morning ensures that their minds are alert and that you will have their full attention. The meeting should not be too lengthy and should be limited only to 5-15 minutes. You should also make sure that there are no distractions in the area that the meeting is being conducted in. All these things will ensure the effectivity of the talk. The employees should be informed in advance that this meeting is going to be conducted. They should also be aware that it is related to HMS, or Hazard Management System. It is important that there be no repetition of topics from the previous session. Pick a topic that is relevant to the current working conditions. Before you conduct the session, understand and review the topic and prep well. Ideally, you should not be reading from a paper or manual. That tends to make the session less-effective. Anticipate all the questions that might crop-up during the HMS discussion. This will help in the smooth running of the talk. Though there will be points that you will want to convey to the workers, encourage them to speak their mind. Let them talk about the safety hazards or issues that they face in the organization. Ask them to bring their personal experiences to the table. If there are any concerns or issues that are related to the experience and which have not yet been solved, try to resolve them. If you are not able to resolve them at that point of time, assure them that you will look into the issues and get back to them with a solution. All procedures that are related to medical emergencies should be reviewed on a monthly basis. Depending on the surrounding at the workplace, some employees might have to be reminded about things like where the fire extinguishers are located or the location of the first-aid equipment. You should also keep them informed about how they should be responding to electrical shock hazards. You should maintain a log of all the meeting and also a list of all the employees who have attended a particular talk. This also impresses upon the workers that this is a critical and essential effort. A toolbox talk should be conducted every week. Mellora can provide you with guideline for a hms system .
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