New-hire safety orientation: what OSHA expects before the first shift, with a one-page checklist

Why day one

Travelers' 2025 Injury Impact Report, built from five years of its own claims, found employees in their first year on the job accounted for about 36% of injuries and 34% of claim costs. OSHA's heat data says nearly three out of four heat deaths happen in the first week. The pattern is the same for falls, struck-by and machine injuries: the new person doesn't know where the hazard is, doesn't know who to ask, and doesn't want to be the one who slows the crew down. Orientation is the hour where you fix all three, and it is the training inspectors ask for first when a new worker gets hurt.

What the rules require before work starts

There is no standard titled "orientation." There are a dozen standards that say training happens before the worker is exposed, at the time of initial assignment, or before first use. Put together, they are the orientation:

Two more things that aren't training but belong on day one. The OSHA poster (OSHA 3165, or the state's version) has to be posted where workers see it. And every worker has to be told how to report an injury, and that they can report without being punished for it (29 CFR 1904.35(b)(1)); a reporting procedure the new hire has never heard of is the one OSHA calls unreasonable.

Several states and cities require training cards on top of this: Nevada's OSHA 10 for construction workers and OSHA 30 for supervisors within 15 days of hire, New York's OSHA 10 on public works over $250,000, New York City's Site Safety Training card, and OSHA 10 requirements on public works in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and West Virginia, plus local ordinances such as Philadelphia's and Miami-Dade County's. No federal rule requires an OSHA 10 card; most general contractors do.

The day-one checklist

This is the one we use for a contractor or shop with no safety department. Ninety minutes, led by the supervisor the person will work for, with a walk, not a video. Check each item, both sign at the bottom.

Before the walk

• Emergency contact, and who the worker's supervisor and competent person are, by name.
• How to report an injury, a near miss or a hazard, to whom, and that nobody gets in trouble for reporting. Where the OSHA poster is.
• Stop-work authority: anyone can stop the job, and here is what happens when they do.
• The three rules that get you sent home today: for most crews, no fall protection at height, inside an unprotected trench, operating equipment you're not signed off on.
• Drug and alcohol policy, phone policy, driving policy if they drive for you.

The walk

• Exits, the assembly point, the first aid kit, the AED, the eyewash, the fire extinguishers, the SDS binder or the screen it's on, the restrooms and water.
• The address to give 911 from this site, and where the ambulance comes in.
• Where the hazards are on this job: the edge, the trench, the traffic, the live panel, the press. Point at them.
• Where things are stored, where equipment moves, where not to stand.

Equipment and PPE

• PPE issued and fitted: hard hat, eye protection, boots checked, high-visibility, gloves for the task, hearing protection if needed. How to inspect it, how to get it replaced.
• What they may not operate or do until trained and signed off: forklift, lift, saw, powder-actuated tool, crane signaling, anything with a lockout procedure. Write the list on the sheet.
• Respirator: medical evaluation and fit test scheduled before any task that needs one.

The hazards of this job

• Read the JHA or the pre-task plan for the first week's work with them, in their language.
• Hazard communication: the chemicals they'll touch, the labels, where the SDS is.
• Fall protection, trenching, lockout, confined spaces, silica, heat: whichever apply, the training and its record, before they're exposed.
• Housekeeping, lifting, hand and power tool basics.

Close

• Ask them to show you: put on the harness, find the SDS, point to the assembly point, name the competent person. Demonstration is how you verify understanding, and it is what 1910.132(f) asks for.
• Assign a buddy for the first week.
• Both sign and date, with the language the orientation was given in.

The first week and the 30-day check

Orientation is the start. The first week, the new worker shadows an experienced one, is not left alone on anything that can hurt them, and is watched for heat if it is hot. The supervisor checks in each day with one question: what did you see today that you weren't sure about? At 30 days, a second sit-down: what training is still missing, which equipment are they ready to be evaluated on, what have they noticed that the rest of the crew stopped seeing. Write both down on the same sheet as the orientation. A GC's prequal will ask whether you have a new-hire program; this is the evidence.

Temps, subs and transfers

• Temporary workers get the same orientation as your own hires. OSHA holds the host employer and the staffing agency jointly responsible; the agency covers general safety training and the host covers the site-specific hazards, equipment and emergency procedures, because the agency has never seen your site. Injuries to temps you supervise day to day go on your OSHA 300 log (1904.31).
• Subcontractors' workers are trained by their employer, but on a multi-employer site the controlling contractor is expected to orient them to the site's hazards, rules and emergency plan. Keep a sign-in.
• Transfers from the office, another division or the night shift are new to this job's hazards, whatever their seniority. So is the ten-year hand who comes back from six months on light duty. Orient them.

Workers who don't work in English

OSHA's position since 2010 is that training has to be in a language and vocabulary the worker understands. A bilingual coworker summarizing the orientation in the parking lot is not that. The orientation is given in Spanish by someone who speaks it, with the forms, the JHA and the signs in Spanish, and the record says which language was used. Where you can't do that in-house, a trainer who can, or a bilingual recorded module followed by a live walk with someone who can answer questions in Spanish. Then the demonstration test, which works in any language: show me.

What the record has to contain

Several standards specify the training record. Build one form that covers all of them: the worker's name, the date, the topics covered, the trainer's name and signature, how understanding was verified, and the language used. The specific requirements it has to satisfy:

• Fall protection certification: name, dates of training, signature of the trainer or employer (1926.503(b)).
• Forklift certification: operator's name, date of training, date of evaluation, identity of the trainer and evaluator (1910.178(l)(6)).
• Lockout training certification: employee name and dates (1910.147(c)(7)(iv)).
• Confined space training: employee name, trainer signatures or initials, dates (1910.146(g)(4), 1926.1207(d)).
• Respirator fit test record: name, type of test, respirator make, model and size, date, result (1910.134(m)(2)).
• Bloodborne pathogens: dates, contents, trainer's name and qualifications, attendees' names and job titles, kept 3 years (1910.1030(h)(2)).
• Hazard communication: no certification form is required, but the written program has to describe how training is done, and a signed record is how you prove it.

Keep orientation and training records for the length of employment plus three years at least, and longer where a standard says so. Keep them where you can find them by the worker's name in an hour, because that is how long you'll have when an inspector asks.

Mistakes that make orientation a formality

• A 20-minute video and a signature page, done by the office, with no walk.
• "He's experienced, he doesn't need it." He has never seen your site, your equipment or your emergency plan.
• The new hire put on the forklift to move one pallet before the evaluation.
• Orientation in English, signature in English, worker in Spanish.
• No buddy and no check-in. Day two, alone on the saw.
• Temps skipped because "the agency trains them."
• Records in a drawer in the trailer that went to the next job.
• The orientation never mentions how to report an injury, so the first one is reported to the workers' comp carrier three weeks late.

Questions we get

Not sure how this applies to your work? Ask the 29Safety safety team in the chat, or email safetyteam@29safety.com.