OHS Induction and Training for School Staff

OHS inductions for school staff

OHS induction is an opportunity for the principal or their delegate to set expectations and school values regarding safety. OHS inductions introduce new staff to a school’s safety culture, orientate them to the school’s safety processes and outline everyone’s responsibilities. Each school is unique and has its own risks, emergency procedures, hazards and people that support OHS.

Establishing and encouraging a proactive culture can help prevent workplace injuries and incidents by providing awareness of the risks that staff may encounter while working at a school. The OHS induction process supports school staff to understand where they can get help and builds awareness of OHS processes relevant to their role and responsibilities. An induction process must be carried out for each school a person works at.

The principal or their delegate must ensure that all school staff complete an OHS induction by going through the OHS induction checklist for school staff (DOCX), or equivalent template, which includes:

• introduction to the Policy and Advisory Library (PAL), including specific policies
• the location of amenities, where to access first aid, emergency procedures, OHS noticeboard and so on
• applicable role-specific health and safety information, such as Safe Work Procedures, Behavioural Support Plans or other documentation.

OHS inductions for staff can be created, stored and maintained in eduSafe Plus (staff login required), in the OHS training register or equivalent template (refer to the Scheduling and recording OHS training chapter for more information).

Additional information for re-inducting staff

While it is common practice for schools to re-induct all staff at the start of each year, this is not required. However, it is important that existing staff are reminded of safety and emergency procedures. Schools can use staff forums, team meetings, or newsletters to remind staff of emergency management plans, evacuation points, and other safety requirements.

It is recommended the following topics be discussed at the beginning of each school year as a reminder for staff that have previously completed the OHS induction process.

Yearly reminders should include:

• the importance of eduSafe reporting
• emergency management plans, highlighting any changes or updates to evacuation routes or assembly points
• first aid procedures and resources
• common hazards in the school and relevant policies/safety procedures to refer to, such as work-related violence, manual handling and so on (schools can refer to their OHS risk register for school specific information)
• keeping eLearns up to date
• highlighting who the return-to-work coordinator and Health and Safety Representative(s) (HSRs) are
• any changes to traffic management plans
• staff forums and Health and Safety Committee meetings.

Additional induction information for graduate teachers

Starting in a new career can be a daunting and overwhelming experience. Principals and OHS delegates are responsible for a complete end-to-end induction of graduate teachers. Thought should be given as to how the induction process is undertaken. Guidance information and resources for inducting graduate teachers can be found below.

Career Start is a structured program for graduate teachers which aims to improve the experience of graduate teachers as they are inducted into the profession.

Starting a job in a government school (induction) provides general induction information including links to the Graduate teacher induction resources page which contains induction resources on professional learning, wellbeing and conferences.