Once, I was in a construction site with a Safety Officer when we came across a small group of workers with serious faces – listening intently to a man in their midst. Later, we found out that the man was their leadman, and he had some papers in his hand which he kept referring to while talking.
When they finished talking and the workers went to their respective jobs, we had a brief discussion with the leadman. He had discussed with them an accident that happened the night before, which involved the same type of work that his men were about to do. Thus, for their incoming shift, the leadman reviewed their work processes, their respective roles in parts of the process, and asked them possible reasons why the accident happened. They also discussed ways to prevent the same thing from happening to them. Thus, the serious men, and the high level of interest by these men during the talk, received a deserved gentle tap on the back as they proceeded to their work.
What we witnessed was a potent communication tool that many safety officers and supervisors find very effective – the toolbox meeting, or TBM for short.
The toolbox meeting is a safety meeting that discusses the safety hazards and solutions related to the specific jobs to be done for the day. This short meeting is done at the job site before beginning the work set for the day. As BCCA says, It is one of the very effective methods to refresh workers' knowledge, cover last minute safety checks, and exchange information with the experienced workers. The term is mentioned under RA 11058 or the OSH Law of 2018, DO 198-18, which is the IRR of RA 10058, and, even before that, DO 13, or Guidelines on OSH in the Construction Industry, signed way back in 1998. Sec. 12, titled, “OSH Program”, of RA 11058 mentioned TBM as a component of OSH Program. DO 198-18 further elaborated the toolbox meeting by indicating that all establishments should include TBM as one of the minimum requirements of an OSH Program.
Department Order 13-98, Section 12.5 states, “Each supervisor or any designated person (e.g., foreman, leadman, gang boss, etc.) shall conduct daily toolbox or similar meetings prior to starting the tasks for the day to discuss with the workers and anticipate safety and health problems related to every task and the potential solutions to those problems. The supervisor shall remind the workers on the necessary safety precautions that need to be undertaken.”
From this part of the section, we can infer the following responsibilities in a Toolbox Meeting:
Leaders must lead the meeting every day.
The leaders should be responsible and knowledgeable of every one’s work for the day. The supervisor or designated person must lead the toolbox meeting every single day. This meeting should be included in their work schedule prior to doing any designated work. It is also the leader’s responsibility to review the processes and each worker’s part for clarification and evaluation.
Safety First.
An informed team is a great team. For the meeting, each must share their knowledge on the work designated to them, plus the safety precautions that they would take to avoid accidents. Aside from these, they should also come up with solutions on how to handle these accidents.
Make it simple and concise.
People would understand a point better if the message is clearly given. Make the topics relevant to the current situation. People don’t usually have long attention spans, so it is better to keep everything brief. It is suggested to have the toolbox meeting at a minimum of 10 minutes to a maximum of 20.
Every safety officer must know why a toolbox meeting is mandatory and relevant to their jobs because it can be the difference between an acknowledged hazard with precautions from a hazard-turned accident. Do your safety officers practice Toolbox Meetings? If not, share this article with them.
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