What Is Employee Orienation>

Topic: Employee Health and Safety

Orienting and Training new staff

What is employee orientation?

Orientation can be termed as the process of introducing new, inexperienced and transferred workers to the organisation, their supervisors, co-workers, work areas and jobs and sometimes to health and safety in general. What is critical and vital though, is providing training and extra assistance during the initial period of employment, regardless the age of the employee because they are not familiar with the workplace.

During this phase, each worker should develop the knowledge, skills and abilities that are necessary to work in a safe and healthy manner. While training or refresher training is vital, training should none the less be provided when employees are:-

i) transferred to jobs or work areas they are unfamiliar with

ii) returning from an extended period away from work

iii) who are new to the workforce

There are several steps that should occur when hiring a new employee or even when transferring an employee from one position to the next.

The first step is to take a look at the job itself. An employer should assess the job and see what it entails. What hazards will the worker be exposed to? Will the present situation present new risks?

The next step occurs before a person starts a new position. Everyone must receive effective health and safety orientation and training. This specific orientation should include the company’s health and safety policy, responsibilities of the employer and the worker and hazards in the workplace. Workers have three basic rights in a workplace i.e. i) the right to know about the hazards ii) the right to participate in the organisation’s health and safety act iii) the right to refuse dangerous work.

Once a worker starts their new position, employers should make sure all workers know that no one is to perform any task until they are trained to do so. Workers should also be encouraged to ask questions all the time,...