The site induction checklist,
usable straight off this page.

This is deliberately a checklist rather than a downloadable form, because the part of an induction that has any value is the part that is about your block. A universal template invites the exact failure this topic is known for, filling in an address and filing it. What holds across every residential site is the set of areas an induction has to cover and the record it has to leave. That is what is below, in the order you would work through it.

Work through it once per site, not once per company, and revisit it when the site materially changes. The reasoning behind each area is in the site inductions reference, the wider set of duties is in WHS in residential construction, and the high risk work documents are covered in SWMS. Everything here is general information about a legal obligation, not legal advice, and it deliberately states no retention periods, thresholds or regulation numbers.

Six things done once per site, before the first trade arrives. Skip these and the induction has nothing accurate to say.

• Walk the site and write the hazards down. On the block, not from the plan. What is overhead, what is underground, what the ground is doing, where the neighbours are, what the access and the crossover look like, and what the street does at the times your trades arrive.
• Fix the site rules for this job. Hours, PPE, parking, no-go areas, smoking, dogs, music, and anything the neighbours or a council condition has imposed on this particular site.
• Set the emergency arrangements. First aid kit location and who holds first aid competence, assembly point, nearest hospital, and the exact street address to give an ambulance. Confirm the notification requirements and contact details for your WHS regulator before you need them.
• Sort amenities and the perimeter. Toilet, water, waste, and the fencing, gates, signage and security that hold when nobody is on site, which on a residential job is most of the week.
• Identify the high risk construction work coming up. Which activities on this job fall inside the definition, who is doing them, and when. Request the safe work method statements at the point the trade is awarded rather than at the pre-start.
• Decide how the induction will actually be delivered. Who gives it, what happens when they are not there, and where the record goes. This is the decision that determines whether the rest of the checklist happens.

Eight areas. The test of each is not whether it appears on the form. It is whether a person who has just been through it could name the hazards on this block and say what they would do if someone was hurt.

1. The site and access

• Site address, the builder, the supervisor and their mobile number.
• Where to park, where not to park, and the crossover or access point to use.
• The site boundary, the gate, and how the site is secured when unattended.
• Which parts of the lot are live work areas and which are exclusion zones today.
• The neighbours, the shared boundaries, and any structure close to the work.
• The footpath, the verge and how the public is kept clear of the work.

2. The hazards actually present

• Named hazards on this site now, not a generic construction hazard list.
• Open excavations, trenches, penetrations, stair voids and unprotected edges.
• Overhead services at the frontage and underground services on the lot.
• Scaffold, ladders and any temporary structures, and their current status.
• Ground conditions, slopes, retaining structures and anything unstable.
• Plant and vehicle movements, deliveries expected, and traffic on the street.
• Asbestos or other hazardous materials where the job involves existing structures.
• Anything the previous week changed, which is the part templates never carry.

3. High risk construction work and SWMS

• Which high risk construction work is under way or about to start on this site.
• Who is doing it, and which safe work method statement applies to it.
• Where the current SWMS can be read on site.
• SWMS sign-on for the workers doing that task, before the task, with the crew.
• Any high risk work licence the task requires, sighted and recorded.
• Who to speak to if the work cannot be done the way the SWMS describes.

4. Emergency and first aid

• What to do if someone is injured, and who to call first.
• The exact street address to give an ambulance, stated out loud in the induction.
• First aid kit location, and who on site holds current first aid competence.
• Assembly point and the route to it from the work areas.
• Nearest hospital or medical centre.
• Fire extinguisher location where hot work or fuel storage applies.
• How and to whom an incident is reported, immediately and afterwards.

5. Amenities and housekeeping

• Toilet, drinking water, hand washing and the smoko or break area.
• Waste, bins, offcuts, and who is responsible for clearing what.
• Leads, cords, hoses and how they are kept out of walkways.
• Material storage, laydown areas and what must stay clear.
• Shade, sun and heat arrangements, and cold or wet weather arrangements.
• Housekeeping expectations at the end of each day.

6. Rules, PPE and behaviour

• PPE required on this site and where it must be worn.
• Site hours, and any restrictions from council conditions or the neighbours.
• No-go areas today, and how they are marked.
• Drugs, alcohol and fitness for work.
• Working alone, and the arrangement if someone is on site outside normal hours.
• Who has authority to stop work, which should include everyone on the site.

7. Reporting and consultation

• How to report a hazard, and to whom.
• How to report a near miss, and the expectation that it will be reported.
• How to report an injury or an incident, and what happens next.
• When toolbox talks are held and who attends.
• How changes to the site or the work will be communicated between visits.

8. Sign-in, sign-out and records

• How to sign in on arrival and sign out on leaving, every visit.
• Where the sign-in point is, and what to do if it is not working.
• Construction induction card sighted and recorded.
• Licences, insurances and any other tickets sighted and recorded.
• Emergency contact details captured for the person.
• Acknowledgement that the induction was received and understood.

An induction describes a site at a point in time, and residential sites change weekly. Re-brief the people affected, and record it, when any of these happen. A recorded toolbox talk covering what has changed is usually enough; it does not have to be the whole induction again.

• Excavation starts, or an existing excavation goes deeper.
• Scaffold goes up, comes down or is reconfigured.
• A floor, roof or wall opens up and creates a new edge or void.
• A service is exposed, isolated or energised.
• New high risk construction work starts, or a SWMS is revised.
• An incident or a near miss occurs on the site.
• Access, parking or the traffic arrangement changes.
• A person returns after a long absence from the site.
• New workers join a subcontractor’s crew part way through their work.

The failure this prevents is specific and common. The plumber inducted in March walks back on in July, past a stair void that did not exist and under a roof that is now open, carrying a mental model of the site that is four months out of date. Nothing in the original induction covered any of it, and nothing about the way he was inducted tells him that.