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Published 28/07/2024

WHS Induction Checklist: Tips on what to include

An work health and safety (WHS) Induction checklist is a core element of an induction. It's purpose it to present and record acknowledgement of important safety checks, policies, procedures and materials. A WHS Induction Checklist is often broken down into several categories based on industry and organisation size. Commonly a WHS induction checklist is part of an overall safety induction and induction program. The idea of the checklist is to ensure that contractors, employees, volunteers, suppliers and even visitors have understood and acknowledged important policies, procedures, site access materials and other induction content, often digitally acknowledging and recorded against a date and time.

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Below we go over the most common health and safety categories for a WHS checklist and the common areas included in each type of checklist. Typically each check list item would have the attachment next to it relating to its policy, procedure or activity. Delivering a WHS induction checklist online makes it easy to distribute to all staff types (contractors, employees, visitors etc) for them to access, understand and acknowledge.

What is a WHS Induction and why is it important?

A WHS induction (which stands for Work Health and Safety) is an important part of any workplace safety organisation. It is the process of running through all health and safety policies in order to ensure that everyone in the organisation understands how to stay safe while on-the-job. This induction could be held at once for entire organisations or it might involve individualised inductions depending on the company's specific needs.

The primary goal of a WHS induction is twofold; firstly, it should provide employees with comprehensive knowledge about preventing work-related injuries from occurring, letting them know what type of activities are unsafe so they can avoid carrying out those tasks; secondly, it should teach team members about role responsibilities under local and/or national laws when working in hazardous environments. Having such valuable information will not only help keep workers safe but also can prevent legal ramifications.

Finally, there are various components included in most WHS inductions - such as training related procedures - but one aspect that should never be overlooked is followup. Followup ensures compliance by ensuring recurring reviews occur so that your staff can keep up with changes in policy or new potential risks involved with working conditions they may encounter over time within their roles. Professional and effective followups will assure all teams stay organized while keeping actions consistent across multiple departments if necessary - ultimately helping you remain compliant regarding standard protocols for worker health safety management!

Safety Role Checklist Items

It's quite common that the WHS checkl list will apply to roles such as a new starter, contractors, employees, visitors and other new staff who are underaking a work activitiy or job task and you need to ensure they understand criticial WHS and safety check list items.

These might include:

- Acknowledging introductions to key people
- Pre-employment check (everything in order to prepare for the new role)
- Manager introduction (line manager reporting)
- Workstation ergonomics
- Grievance procedures (reporting issues and to whom)
- Dress code
- PPE
- Parking
- Code of Conduct
- Anti-Discrimination Policy

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Site Safety Checklist Items

Commonly in an induction checklist you'll be running through the following check list items:

- Emergency procedure
- Work Health and Safety Policy
- Smoke free Workplace policy
- Alcohol and other drugs
- Prevention of workplace bullying and harassment
- Work Health and Safety System
- Workplace rehabilitation
- Risk assessment procedure
- Emergency assembly points
- Emergency exits and evacuation
- Isolation and lockout procedures
- Provision of first Aid
- Hazards in the workplace
- Safe working at heights
- Confined space procedure
- Noise procedures
- Security policy
- Fatigue
- Motor vehicles policy
- Restricted Areas
- Manual handling procedures
- How to use a fire extinguisher

Reporting Items

The check list might also include making sure they new staff member knows how to report something when it goes wrong. This might be an acknowledgement of how to report areas such as:

How to report an incident
How to report a hazard

Site Specific Checklist Items

You might also cover acknowledgement on:

Local hospital contacts
Local doctor contacts
Specific locations of chemicals on site
Specific hazards to be aware of on site

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