Ep. 564 OSHA Requirements for Safety Meetings

Rancho Mesa’s Alyssa Burley and Client Technology Specialist, Brenda Colby sit down to discuss Cal/OSHA’s requirements for safety meetings.

Show Notes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to Rancho Mesa's Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠

Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Alyssa Burley

Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Brenda Colby

Editor: Jadyn Brandt

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “Breaking News Intro” by nem0production

© Copyright 2025. Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Alyssa Burley: You’re listening to Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive.  I’m your host, Alyssa Burley, and I’m joined by Brenda Colby, Client Technology Specialist with Rancho Mesa, and we’re going to discuss Cal/OSHA’s requirements for safety meetings.

Brenda, welcome to the show.

Brenda Colby: Hi Alyssa, happy to be here.

AB: Now most California employers are aware of the importance of an Injury and Illness Prevention program, as it is a requirement from California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration also known as Cal/OSHA. But a piece that often gets overlooked in an IIPP is the implementation of regular toolbox talks. Now these are brief, informal safety meetings typically held at the job site.

So, let’s start by talking about the presentation of toolbox talks to a crew. Brenda, what should employers know about how to present toolbox talk trainings to their employees?

BC:  Well, to start, toolbox talks should be presented to employees in-person at the jobsite in a location easily accessible to team members. And be sure to keep the topics relevant to the industry or project—there’s no reason to talk about ladder safety if your employees don’t use ladders on the jobsite.

And Rancho Mesa’s SafetyOne™ platform has an extensive library of toolbox talk topics designed for industries like construction, landscape and tree care, non-profit and human services organizations.

AB: Right, and there’s plenty of topics specific to different industries, so it’s easy to keep trainings relevant. Plus, if there’s ever an incident or a near-miss on a jobsite, the toolbox talk meeting can be used to remind employees of proper safety procedures to avoid those incidents in the future.

Now, Cal/OSHA has requirements for how often toolbox talks must be conducted. So, what is the required frequency?

BC: Well Cal/OSHA requires supervisory employees to conduct toolbox talks with their crews, and I quote “at least every 10 working days.” So, once a month is not enough. But to keep on a consistent schedule, we recommend holding weekly toolbox talks on the same day of each week, and that way you won’t lose track of how often you need to be training employees. We also offer at least 52 topics each for three industry specific groups, such as landscape, tree care, and drivers, enough for one topic to be used each week of the year, and aim to continue to add new industry specific groups as well.

AB: Yeah, and even if your business doesn’t fall into one of those sub-categories, the topic library includes over 780 toolbox talk topics that can be used for a variety of industries.

And finally, let’s talk about one of the most overlooked, but most important steps in training, and that’s documentation. So what kind of documentation is required for these tool box talk trainings?

BC: So, keeping a record of who has been trained on each toolbox talk topic is absolutely a necessity. Cal/OSHA expects employers to maintain written records that include the training topic and content, date, presenter’s name, and the signatures of all attendees. These records should be easily accessible so they may be made available during inspections.

SafetyOne administrators can use any mobile device—such as a smart phone or tablet—to collect participant signatures and take a group photo after each toolbox talk. These records will be saved in the SafetyOne platform for each project and can be accessed by administrators at any time.

AB: And, it’s important to have these records on-hand in case of a visit from Cal/OSHA, where they may request to view them. So Brenda, if listeners have questions about using our or SafetyOne™ Platform for OSHA-required toolbox talk safety meetings, what’s the best way to get in touch with you?

BC: As always, clients can contact me at bcolby@ranchomesa.com or call me directly at (619) 486-6562. 

AB: Alright, well Brenda, thank you for joining me in StudioOne™. 

BC: Thanks for having me.

AB: Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne™. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this, visit us at RanchoMesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.