Stop Toolbox Talk Burnout: 5 Ways to Engage
Ruthann Ellis, Department of Field Training & Development, Ceco Concrete Construction  10-2020

Conducting regular Toolbox Talks is an effective way to reinforce the focus on safety for workers. Yet if you are a crew leader, you have probably given the talk on PPE over 100 times, and wonder why you must continue to repeat yourself. Haven’t we all complained that regurgitating the same information over and over is difficult to do and even more difficult to hear? This complacent attitude is TTBO; Toolbox Talk Burn Out. To avoid TTBO, we need to be creative in how we approach the task of communicating safety to our teams.

Professional athletes do not spend training camps playing the game. Instead, they do drills. Players spend hours throwing, catching, running plays, and then more throwing and running. The repetitiveness of the exercises sharpens the player's basic skills until they become a reflex during game time. If you think about a Toolbox Talk as a practice drill that builds the team's ability to respond automatically in a safe way, you will approach it differently. How you, their coach, gives the Toolbox Talk, has the single most impact on what motivates the employee to turn information into action. Check out these five coaching tips for more effective outcomes.

1. Good coaches prepare. Select a topic that is relevant to the current work or conditions. Practice reading the written document out loud to measure your pace and tone, and so you don't stumble over words and phrases. Think about potential objections, questions, and challenges that employees may pose and be ready with answers.

2. Always start with "Why?". Adults need to know why they need to know something. It is critical to their ability to internalize information, accept it, and then use it. When there is no "why," adults struggle to make sense of what they are seeing, hearing, or learning. And, the "why" is not as evident as you may think. If it were, workers would follow the rules, and Toolbox Talks would not be necessary. If you don't know or can't find the "why" that reaches them, ask them to tell you. "Why do you think we have Toolbox Talks?" "Why is this Toolbox Talk important?"

3. Be brief. The goal is to provide enough detail that workers know what you want them to do. Most people can only stand to listen for three minutes unless they are part of the conversation, which leads to the next point.

4. Involve the worker in the Toolbox Talk. When you provide listeners opportunities to engage actively, both their retention and attitude improve. Try this to increase participation.

• Have hand-raising polls ("Raise your hand if you have ever…") Share personal stories of your own experiences.
• Ask someone on the crew to deliver a portion of the talk.
• Conduct "follow-along" demos ("We are going to inspect our harnesses together.")
• Ask open-ended questions that require more than a yes or no response.

5. Follow-up! During the day, stop and ask workers what the Toolbox Talk was about. If they do not know or can't remember, ask them why and remind them. If they do remember, ask them why they think the information is essential. Regardless, stay positive and thank them.

Finally, be positive. Your attitude toward safety and the importance of the information is critical. Your crews will follow your lead. If you are safety complacent, demonstrate a lack of energy towards keeping everyone safe, and appear noncommittal, your team will respond in kind.