Toolbox Talks for Electronic Age

C&D Consultancy has taken the bold decision to produce a series of video toolbox talks to improve the consistency and quality of these vital health and safety briefings. Mark Anthony reports.

The toolbox talk – the weekly pre-start health and safety briefing endured by construction workers across the land – is as much a part of the industry landscape as bacon sandwiches, muddy boots and bad language.

Done correctly, the toolbox talk is a major contributor to site safety; a final reminder of the potential risks and hazards that might otherwise befall an unsuspecting worker. Done badly, and they are merely a pre-work tea break interrupted; a lost opportunity to reinforce key safety messages.

The inconsistency of toolbox talks is something that has troubled former Institute of Demolition Engineers’ president John Woodward for some time. But while others might require market research, working parties, consultations and innumerable meetings, Woodward is a man of action. And, together with video producers Django and attachment specialist ECY Haulmark, Woodward has set about creating an initial series of video toolbox talks to help ensure greater consistency.

“I know from my training activities that workers engage better with video than they do with someone reading from a script or a PowerPoint presentation, particularly when that person is someone they work with all the time,” Woodward asserts. “So we set out to create a series of short two to four minute videos to enhance worker engagement and to help reinforce a number of key safety messages.”

The first films cover subjects as diverse as respiratory protective equipment, First Aid, Traffic Management, Pollution and general safety Issues. Woodward says that he also has plans to extend the library of titles and, if there is sufficient demand, will also make bespoke and branded videos for individual contractors addressing their own specific needs.

In typically altruistic style, Woodward is making the initial 12 videos available free of charge. They will be available on YouTube and offered as a free download for demolition companies to use as they see fit. Woodward also has plans to make them available in MP3 audio format so workers can even listen to them in the car.

“Obviously, the main aim of these videos is that they will be used to enhance weekly toolbox talks that are already taking place on sites up and down the country. Behavioural safety is the key to maintaining site safety levels. And to achieve that, safety needs to become a way of life, not just something you worry about when you arrive on site each day,” he concludes. “By making these toolbox talk videos available online, everyone can check them at any time. If a single operative looks at one of these films on YouTube and works in a safer manner as a result, the toolbox talk videos will have been a success.”

All the Toolbox Talk videos can be viewed on the dedicated YouTube channel http://tinyurl.com/bae4x48. To request a FREE download of any or all of the videos, please email John Woodward: john.woodward@demolishdismantle.co.uk