Weeks 1–3: Starting well
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|
| 1 · Take 5 | Stop before you start: five minutes now beats five weeks off. | Look up, look down, look behind you before the first move. | If anything changed since yesterday, your Take 5 changed too. | A hazard you cannot control is a reason to stop, not to hurry. | Read one Take 5 card from this week aloud. |
| 2 · Housekeeping | A clear walkway is a safety control, not a tidy habit. | Put the hose away before it becomes the thing someone trips on. | Leaks on a clean floor are easy to see; that is the point of the clean floor. | Return the tool; the next person should not search for it. | Five minutes of 5S at the end of shift is tomorrow's safe start. |
| 3 · Reporting | A near miss reported today is an injury that never happens. | Tell us what nearly went wrong; nobody is in trouble for honesty. | The small thing you keep working around is the one worth raising. | If you raised it and nothing happened, raise it again at the huddle. | Thank someone who reported a hazard this week. |
Weeks 4–6: Plant and movement
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|
| 4 · Mobile plant | Make eye contact with the operator before you step into the aisle. | Three metres behind a reversing machine is a blind spot, not a safe distance. | Stay in the marked walkway even when it is the long way. | Pre-start the forklift as if you are the one who will be hurt when it fails. | Who is the spotter today, and do they know? |
| 5 · Guards and isolation | A guard that is off is a machine that is unsafe. | Lock it, tag it, test it, then clear the jam. | Your lock is the only one that protects you. | Stored energy does not know the power is off. | Before you reach in, ask what moves if it starts. |
| 6 · Hands | Where will your hands be when it moves? | Gloves for the task, not the gloves in your pocket. | Pinch points do not warn you twice. | A dull blade needs more force and takes more fingers. | Count the near misses on hands this month at the board. |
Weeks 7–9: Height, load and body
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|
| 7 · Height | Three points of contact on every ladder, every time. | Check the harness before you trust it with your life. | What is below you if you drop that tool? | A fragile roof looks like a roof. | Two metres is high enough to die from. |
| 8 · Manual handling | If it needs a grunt, it needs a second person or an aid. | Push, do not pull, when you can choose. | Move your feet instead of twisting your back. | Early discomfort reported is a strain avoided. | Where is the trolley, and why are you not using it? |
| 9 · Fitness for work | Tired is impaired; say so before you drive the plant. | Drink before you are thirsty in the heat. | Hearing protection works only when it is worn the whole time. | The drive home is the most dangerous part of the shift. | Ask one person how they are going today, and mean it. |
Weeks 10–12: Substances, fire and emergencies
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|
| 10 · Chemicals | Read the label; if there is no label, do not use it. | The SDS tells you what to do before the splash, not after. | Decant into a labelled container or not at all. | Where is the spill kit from where you stand? | Eyewash: do you know the way with your eyes shut? |
| 11 · Fire | Which extinguisher is for the fire you are most likely to see here? | Raise the alarm first, fight the fire second, only if it is small. | Hot work needs a permit and a watch, every time. | Is the extinguisher behind you clear and in date? | Walk your evacuation route today. |
| 12 · Emergencies | Know the assembly point before you need it. | Who is the first aider on this shift? | The emergency number is on the board; read it now. | Test the duress alarm before you work alone. | Run a one-minute drill in your head: where would you go? |
Weeks 13–15: Procedures and change
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|
| 13 · Permits | A permit is a conversation about risk, not a form. | Confined space: never enter to rescue without the plan. | The isolation certificate names the energy; check it names all of it. | When the job changes, the permit changes. | Close the permit properly; the next shift inherits what you leave. |
| 14 · Standards | The standard exists because someone was hurt without it. | If the standard cannot be followed, raise it; do not improvise it. | A shortcut saved once is a habit next week. | Check the setting against the standard, not against memory. | Which standard would you change, and have you said so? |
| 15 · Change | New task, new hazard: re-assess. | A new person on the crew needs the hazards told, not assumed. | Contractors do not know our site; walk them through it. | Weather is a change too. | What changed on this line this week, and who knows? |
Weeks 16–18: Looking out for each other
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|
| 16 · Stop work | Anyone can stop the job; nobody will be blamed for it. | If it feels wrong, it probably is; stop and ask. | Speak up for the new starter who will not. | A stop today is cheaper than an investigation tomorrow. | Name one time this month someone stopped a job, and thank them. |
| 17 · Communication | Say it back: a confirmed instruction is a safe one. | Hand signals only work if both of you learned the same ones. | Hand over the hazards, not just the production numbers. | Radio silence is not a confirmation. | Tell the next shift what nearly went wrong on yours. |
| 18 · Review | Which message this quarter changed what you did? | Which hazard on the board has been open longest? | What would you tell a new starter first? | Count this quarter's near misses and what they taught us. | Write next quarter's first message yourselves. |
How to use the messages
Read one at the start of the huddle, ask one person what it means for today's work, and move on. When there was a near miss yesterday, that replaces the message. Rotate the reader; the supervisor reading every day turns it into noise.
Safety messages inside daily management
The message is the one-minute safety item at the top of the Tier 1 board. The hazards and near misses raised in response become actions on the same board, and the weekly theme is chosen at Tier 2 to match the month's incidents and audit findings. When the quarter ends, replace the messages that fell flat with ones written from the site's own events.
Step by step
- Post the week's theme. On the Tier 1 board on Monday, with the five messages.
- Read one a day. Rotating reader, under a minute, first item of the huddle.
- Ask one question. What does this mean for today's work? One answer, then move on.
- Override with events. Yesterday's near miss always replaces the planned message.
- Tick and review. Tick the week; at quarter end, replace what fell flat with your own.
A worked example
A packaging plant's Tier 1 meetings had a 'safety share' item that supervisors skipped when busy. Putting the week's five messages on the board, with a rotating reader and a tick box, made the item take forty seconds and happen every day. In the first quarter the hands week produced three near-miss reports about a case packer that had been known about informally; the guard interlock fix became a Tier 2 action and the message for that Friday was written by the operator who raised it.
