Site induction

These two are both called inductions and they are completely different things. Getting them mixed up is the most common induction failure on Australian sites.

The general construction induction, known everywhere as the white card, is a one off training qualification. It is delivered by a registered training organisation, covers construction work generally rather than any particular site, and the model work health and safety regulations require a person carrying out construction work to have completed it. The card follows the worker from job to job for the rest of their career.

A site induction is specific to one site and happens every time a worker starts on a new one. It covers what is actually here: this layout, these hazards, these rules, this emergency assembly point, these supervisors.

A white card is not a substitute for a site induction, and a site induction does not replace the white card. A worker needs both before starting work, and the site has to verify the card rather than take it on trust.

Try the free Site Induction Builder.

The content follows from the site specific rules in the principal contractor's WHS management plan, and from the hazards that actually exist on this project.

Site layout and access. Where to enter and exit, where to park, where the amenities are, the pedestrian routes, and which areas are off limits.

The hazards here. Current high risk activities, live services, confined spaces, overhead work, plant movements, contaminated ground and asbestos where the register identifies it.

Traffic and plant. The traffic management arrangements, delivery procedures, exclusion zones and how pedestrians and vehicles are kept apart.

Site rules. Personal protective equipment, permits, hot work, no go zones, fatigue and drug and alcohol policy, phone and camera rules, housekeeping, smoking.

Emergency arrangements. Alarm, evacuation routes, assembly point, first aid officers and where the first aid point is, spill response, and how to raise an alarm.

Incident and hazard reporting. What has to be reported, to whom, and how quickly, including near misses.

People and lines of communication. Who the supervisors are, who the health and safety representatives are, and who to approach with a safety concern.

The paperwork. Verification of the white card, trade licences and high risk work licences, verification of competency for plant, and the SWMS the worker will be working under.

The record of attendance matters as much as the content. It is the evidence that a worker was informed of the site rules, which is a duty in its own right.

Everyone who works on the site, not just the trades. That includes subcontractors, labour hire, delivery drivers who go beyond a controlled unloading area, consultants, client representatives and the builder's own staff.

Visitors are handled differently. A short visitor induction and an escort is the usual approach, on the basis that they are not carrying out construction work and are not left unaccompanied.

Timing is simple: before starting work, not at the end of the first day. A worker on site without an induction is uncontrolled, and the sign on sheet is the only thing that distinguishes an induction from a conversation.

Re induction is where sites get loose. It is needed when the site changes materially, when a worker returns after a long absence, when a serious incident changes the rules, and when a new stage brings different hazards. A worker inducted during the basement stage has not been briefed on the facade stage.

On long projects the practical approach is a short, structured re brief at each stage rather than repeating the full induction, with the prestart meeting carrying day to day changes.

Running the white card as the induction. A national qualification tells a worker nothing about the hazards on this site.

The forty minute slideshow nobody remembers. An induction loaded with corporate policy and light on this site's actual hazards fails at the only thing it is for. Cover what will hurt someone here.

No verification of tickets. Collecting a photograph of a white card without checking its validity, or accepting a high risk work licence for the wrong class of plant, is a common audit finding.

Not re inducting at stage changes. The hazards that existed at induction are not the hazards on site three months later.

Inducting the subcontractor's supervisor and assuming it cascades. Every worker needs their own induction and their own record.

No record, or a record nobody can find. If you cannot produce the sign on for a specific worker on a specific date, you cannot show the duty was met.

Forgetting delivery drivers. Drivers who leave the cab inside the site are on a construction site, and the delivery procedure needs to say what they are briefed on and where they may go.