Toolbox / Safety Meetings

If I had a trucking company, I'd use opportunities like that to cover unusual, emergency, and especially dangerous situations.

Aircraft pilots and astronauts virtually never train for normal situations, but spend 98% of their time practicing abnormal and extreme ones. The theory being that the "daily stuff" takes care of itself through experience. Those are some smart guys whose lead I'd follow in a heartbeat.

 

At our tanker outfit we have "safety meetings" once a month,as in today. 3 hrs of total BS and boredom. But they are "mandatory" if you're in town and we do get paid for them.

Funny tho, several times I've been on the road for one and asked the "safety manager" if there was anything at the meeting I should know about...... Naaah.

 

That's funny! I used to be a carpenter before driving over the road, a toolbox safety meeting was a whole different situation!:smt033

 

A lot of companies subscribe to a service that provides the materials. This way you know that you are in compliance.

I did a quick Google and Washington State has a cool deal where they have the whole program on PDF.

Here;

http://www.lni.wa.gov/safety/topics/atoz/toolboxtalks/default.asp

Good stuff and looks the same as the subscription stuff.


............... Jim

 

These folks who think safety meetings are a waste of time, really make me wonder. My old boss at DATS made it very obvious how useless he thought they were.

With a little preparation, a bit of intelligence and some good material, safety meetings can hold the interest of the group. If all you do is sit on your butt and show the same old tired films over and over again, then it IS a waste of time.

Safety meetings should also have room for drivers to bring up problems they have encountered, or are aware of. It is a time to TALK about the accidents that a company has experienced, rather than try to sweep them under the rug. Most folks can learn from other's mistakes. If they are given the chance to.

SAFETY IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS Particularly in this industry.