Conducting a Toolbox Talk?
Topic
Ensure that you have chosen a relevant topic for the audience and that you are familiar with all aspects, it
needs to create:
 Discussion about hazards and controls.
 Support two way communication.
Consideration needs to be given to recent incidents, near misses or other events that have a safety impact,
equally it can be from a planned program of talks focusing on key operational elements within the plant.
Location
Careful consideration is required to ensure that this is:
 Safe – traffic flow (Pedestrian, plant or other movements), noise, fumes from processes,
unintentional starting or stopping of equipment.
 Accommodate – The number of people who will be attending, so that they can hear and see you.
 Relevant – Needs to be in a relevant area, if you are discussing how to operate a piece of plant then
ideally you should have access to that plant.
 Operations – Your talk is not going to interrupt or conflict with other operations.
 PPE – Personnel (Including you) are wearing the correct level of PPE.
 Distractions – It is a short and snappy delivery, think how to eliminate or minimise these and thus
enhance the experience for all.
 Authority – Do you need to conduct the talk in a restricted area, if so what authority or other
considerations are needed
Time
This encompasses several key elements:
Length of Toolbox Talk
Ideally this should be a maximum of 15 minutes and must be structured to allow a full coverage of all your
main points and questions from those attending.
When
This depends on your audience, considerations needed:
 Try and avoid the end of shifts, as the focus may be on going home and not you.
 When conducting at the start of a shift, ensure that it does not conflict with other shift activities
(handovers for instance), it may be appropriate to start the talk early if personnel can attend.
You
 Do you have enough time to deliver this and carry out any administrative tasks that are generated
by the talk?
 Have you allowed enough preparation time?
© Reynolds Training Services Ltd
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Conducting a TBT – Rev: 24-June-27
Conducting a Toolbox Talk?
Audience
Needs to be large enough to generate a discussion but not so large that it impacts on the overall delivery, if
working with shift teams consider the opportunity to mix these, remember one shift might have a better
understanding of the hazards or looked at different controls. Learn from each other.
Ideal group size is between 4 and 8, remember to consider your location though – is it big enough!
What other barriers to learning do you need to consider?
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Language.
Terminology.
If it is an incident review – have they been involved.
Noise or other distractions in the environment.
Relevance of topic.
Approach
This may vary between deliveries which is why you need to research your talk and the audience key
attributes:
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Be confident but not cocky.
Use their knowledge and experience.
Underpin safety as a key message.
Support the group in discussions.
Keep discussions on track.
Listen to their questions and concerns, don’t just hear!
The toolbox talk is not a lecture it is designed to generate discussion on health, safety, environment, security
and operational issues.
Resources
As part of the planning process consider what you need to conduct this:
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Authority from a plant supervisor to be in an area.
Notification of attendees, and a list to support attendance.
Toolbox talk plan.
Question sheets.
Relevant PPE.
Stationery – pens, paper, clipboards!
Other specialist equipment.
Record Keeping
Ensure accurate records are kept of the talk, including attendees with supporting signatures confirming this.
You can add the Toolbox Talk to CALMcloud (https://certas.oncalm.cloud/sign-in) as a course and assign this
to relevant personnel which will then update their Individual Training Record.
© Reynolds Training Services Ltd
2 of 2
Conducting a TBT – Rev: 24-June-27