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Toolbox talk topics for construction: a 52-week planner (UK)
Shaun Holmes
I've spent over 20 years in UK construction, and the crews that keep a briefing going are the ones with the next topic already picked. This is a year of them, grouped by the season, so cold weather and dark mornings sit in autumn and winter, the Christmas shutdown sits in December, and heat and sun sit in summer.
This talk supplements the site's own risk assessment and method. It does not replace them, and it is not a substitute for competent health and safety advice.
Week 1 is the first working week of January. If your year starts on a different Monday, slide the list. The season is the point, not the number. Where a talk already exists on this site, the week links to it. Read that one out. Do not try to cover the whole year in one briefing. A week with no link is still a topic. Cover it from the job in front of you, and from the blank toolbox talk template.
Print this planner, or use your browser's print dialog to save a PDF. The page stays open to read. Printing asks for an email the first time.
Winter
Weeks 1 to 8
January and February. Cold, ice, and dark mornings. The talks are the route, the kit, the van, and anyone working in a house on their own.
Week 1
First week back
Walk the routes before the first carry. Who is new, and what is in the way.
Week 2
Cold weather and ice
Grit, light, and somewhere to warm up. Do not invent a temperature that means you stop.
Week 3
Slips on icy routes
The walkway, the mud, and the footwear. A sign is not a substitute for grit.
Week 4
PPE in the cold and the dark
What people are actually wearing, including high-visibility kit you can see in headlights.
Week 5
Manual handling
Winter materials, wet gloves, and a route that is longer because of the ice.
Week 6
Temporary lighting and electrics
Leads, lamps, and anything you are about to treat as dead because the light is off.
Week 7
Driving for work
Dark starts, icy yards, and a van that still needs a check before it moves.
Week 8
Lone working
Who is in a house on their own, and what the check-in is.
Spring
Weeks 9 to 21
March, April and May. Refurb work opens older buildings, and the ground dries enough for digging. Start with what you might disturb.
Week 9
Asbestos awareness
Before anyone opens a wall, a soffit, or a floor in a building from before 2000.
Week 10
Silica dust
Cutting and grinding as the outside work picks up. Water or extraction first.
Week 11
COSHH
What is in the tin, and what the work itself puts into the air.
Week 12
Working at height
Whether the job needs a climb at all, before the scaffold or the ladder comes off the van.
Week 13
Ladders and stepladders
For the short, low-risk jobs. Check it before anyone climbs.
Week 14
Scaffolding awareness
Use it. Do not alter it. Ask when it was last inspected.
Week 15
Excavations and trenches
Support, services, and a way out, before anyone stands in it.
Week 16
Housekeeping
Deliveries pick up. Decide where they land so they are not in the walkway.
Week 17
Noise
Quieter methods first. Hearing protection is not the only control.
Week 18
Power tools and vibration
Tingling is a reason to say something, not a badge.
Week 19
Fire and hot works
Clear what can burn, and keep the watch after the flame is out.
Week 20
Manual handling again
Longer carries as materials move through the job. Two people if the method says two.
Week 21
Using chat tools on site
Paperwork only. No customer details, and no method you have not decided yourself.
Summer
Weeks 22 to 35
June, July and August. Heat and sun sit alongside the cutting, the scaffold and the van. One week has no talk page yet. Cover it from the job in front of you.
Week 22
Heat, sun and outdoor work
Water, shade, and whether the heavy work can move to a cooler part of the day. There is no talk page for this one yet.
Week 23
Slips in dry and wet
Dust, wash-down water, and leads. The floor changes faster in summer.
Week 24
Silica dust
The cutting does not stop because the weather is good. The controls do not stop either.
Week 25
Working at height
A second pass, before someone treats a ladder as the normal way up.
Week 26
Scaffolding
Sheeting, netting and wind. Do not add either without telling the people who designed it.
Week 27
Ladders for short jobs
Still not the automatic first choice. Still a check before the climb.
Week 28
Manual handling
Heat changes how long people should stay on a carry. The lift itself has not got lighter.
Week 29
PPE
What is being worn, what is on the dashboard, and what no longer fits with the rest of the kit.
Week 30
Noise
Doors and windows open in the heat. The noise still travels.
Week 31
Vibration
Break the time up. A blunt blade is a longer spell on the tool.
Week 32
Housekeeping
Mid-job. Waste, stacks, and the route the customer still has to walk.
Week 33
Vans and driving
Holiday traffic is not a reason to skip the check or the break.
Week 34
Lone working
People cover jobs while others are off. The check-in still has to have a person on the other end.
Week 35
Mental health
Workload and hours. A reason to ask, not a diagnosis.
Autumn
Weeks 36 to 48
September, October and November. Dark mornings come back before the cold really does. Light the route, and look again at anything the wind and rain can move.
Week 36
Dark mornings
Lights on before you need them. Cold-weather controls, even if it is not freezing yet.
Week 37
Slips as the light drops
Wet leaves, mud, and a landing you cannot see.
Week 38
Lighting and electrics
Temporary light, and circuits you are about to open up indoors.
Week 39
Asbestos on indoor refurb
The work moves inside. The stop rule does not change.
Week 40
COSHH
Solvents and dust in rooms with the windows shut.
Week 41
Working at height in wind and rain
Weather that compromises safety is a reason to stop.
Week 42
Scaffold inspections after weather
High winds are one of the reasons HSE says to inspect again.
Week 43
Excavations in wet ground
A flatter batter, and an inspection after the rain, not only on a dry Monday.
Week 44
Housekeeping and waste
Shorter days. Do not leave the tidy-up until you cannot see it.
Week 45
Fire and hot works
Finish in time for the watch. Dark afternoons are not an excuse to skip it.
Week 46
Driving as the evenings draw in
Lights, time, and a yard that is darker than it was in August.
Week 47
High-visibility and the rest of the PPE
The darker the site, the more you need to be seen.
Week 48
Mental health
Shorter days and a long run to Christmas. Know the numbers before someone needs them.
December shutdown
Weeks 49 to 52
The Christmas and new year break. Secure the site before you leave, then walk it before anyone starts again.
Week 49
Christmas and new year shutdown
Fencing, ladders, excavations, plant, substances, and waste. Do this before the last van leaves.
Week 50
Fire over the break
Arson and waste. No bonfire of offcuts on the last day.
Week 51
Scaffold and ladder security
Bottom ladders off, or guarded. Do not remove a ladder that is a fire escape.
Week 52
First morning back
Walk the site before the first tool comes out. Housekeeping, then the scaffold and any excavation.
52 weeks. The full set of talks, with a sign-off sheet, is in the toolbox talks library.
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