Got safety handbooks? We asked, you answered

Employee training, onboarding, ongoing reference … We asked the J. J. Keller Insights Community, a group of customers who share feedback about safety-related topics, how they use safety handbooks in their workplaces. These handbooks are purchased – not created in-house by the panelists or their company – and may focus on a specific topic, like personal protective equipment (PPE), or cover a broad range of environmental, health, and safety (EHS) topics.

More than 70 percent of respondents said they require new employees to review safety handbooks during onboarding. Another 58 percent said they use them for refresher or ongoing training, and several respondents mentioned using them for reference purposes.

Handbooks can play an important role in workplace safety and health programs. For new employees, they help set clear expectations before starting work, identify where to find vital safety information, and build safe habits early on. Handbooks also help ensure consistency by delivering the same core safety information to all employees regardless of department, shift, or trainer.

For supervisors and managers, safety handbooks are practical tools for leading toolbox talks, reinforcing or developing training materials, and addressing unsafe behaviors.

Shared versus individual handbooks

Nearly 60 percent of survey respondents bought one handbook (or a few) and shared them among employees, while 42 percent provided individual handbooks for each employee. Of those who purchased one or a few, they typically kept the handbooks in central or safety-related locations, such as:

• Main offices
• Safety or compliance offices
• EHS departments
• Classroom or training spaces
• Shared libraries near Safety Data Sheet binders or training areas
• Shop floors near work areas

Use in training programs

As mentioned, the majority of those surveyed said they use safety handbooks as part of new hire, ongoing, and refresher training. This includes the following uses:

• Building or supporting existing training programs
• Creating quizzes or review questions
• Supporting skills testing (e.g., forklift, ladder, PPE)
• Providing supplementary materials for:
  • Toolbox talks
  • OSHA 30 courses
  • Job-specific trainings (e.g., load securement, bloodborne pathogens, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations)

Additional survey feedback

Open-ended survey responses highlighted that some companies prefer visual presentations or digital formats over print publications, with some expressing concern that hard copy materials may quickly become outdated. Others said they use handbooks only as background reference for the EHS team and see a need to increase handbook use in their company.