Prepare new employees for a safe start with a comprehensive safety orientation.
The Safety Orientation System helps ensure new employees understand workplace safety expectations and protocols before they begin work. A structured orientation supports safer workplaces and helps reduce the risk of incidents from day one.
Establish a clear new hire Safety Orientation System policy to include roles, responsibilities, and procedures for any new hire or any employee that has a change in position.
The employer will provide, at a minimum, the following training for new employees:
- Information about hazards in the workplace, including potential hazards and the processes and controls in place to reduce the risk of injury.
- Controls used to prevent exposure to safety and health hazards, explaining specific policies and procedures to reduce risks.
- Information on reporting safety concerns, hazards, and near-misses.
- Incident and injury reporting, including how to report incidences and employee injuries.
- Emergency Response Procedures, which may include evacuations, rally points, head count procedures, lock downs, shelter-in-place, first aid kits, alarms, spill response, fire, fire extinguisher, and bloodborne pathogens.
- WSI Information found on the “WSI Important Notice to Workers” poster.
- Information about the return-to-work program, if applicable.
- Regulatory required safety training, including all required OSHA and/or MSHA training applicable for the position or tasks conducted.
Safety Mentoring is a process in which mentors share knowledge, skills, information, and perspective to foster the personal and professional growth of new employees. The key objective is to gain the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective in the organization through mentoring interaction.
- The employer will provide mentoring to each new employee and maintain a list of new employees and their assigned mentors.
- The safety mentoring process will be documented.
- Feedback from new employees and mentors on the mentoring process will be sought and documented.
- New employees will participate in the mentoring program for a minimum of 3 months.
Employers selecting the SOS Program for the first time must ensure the safety coordinator and any employees involved in the implementation complete WSI’s SOS Program online course within the first 90 days of their eligible policy renewal. To access the course through WSI’s Learning Management System, email [email protected] for assistance.