A driver spending twenty minutes at the loading bay needs different information from a subcontractor here for three weeks of demolition. Give them both the same twenty-minute induction and the first one stops listening while the second misses half of it. A good visitor induction looks different from a driver or contractor induction. Here is what each group actually needs.
Why one induction for everybody fails
An induction that tries to cover everything for everyone gets long, and length is exactly what loses people. Experienced contractors who move between sites sit through the same general material over and over, on top of the cards and courses they already hold, and start treating the whole thing as a formality. What they do not already know is the local part, and that is the part that gets squeezed.
So cut the general section short and spend the time where it counts: on what is different about this site.
Escorted visitors
A visitor walking from the car park to a meeting room with somebody alongside them does not need permits to work. What they do need:
- Where they may walk and where they may not, and that they stay with their escort.
- Which PPE they wear, and from what point.
- What the alarm sounds like and where the assembly point is.
- That they report anything unsafe to their escort.
Two minutes covers it. A visitor who will be walking the site unaccompanied is not a visitor for these purposes; treat them as a contractor.
Delivery drivers
The group on site for the shortest time and often at the highest risk: they stand among moving plant, do not know the layout, and are in a hurry. Their induction is about moving around, not about working:
- The route to the unloading point, and where to wait.
- Where they may leave the cab and where they may not, and the safe standing area during unloading.
- Speed limit, priority, and the blind spots on forklifts.
- PPE on leaving the cab, usually hi-vis and safety boots.
- Who to speak to, and on which number.
Language is the main obstacle here: a large share of international haulage does not read English. The article on multilingual inductions covers that.
Contractors working unaccompanied
This group gets the full induction: all the topics in the checklist, plus the hazards attached to the work they have come to do. Permits to work that apply here, the procedure for working at height or in a confined space, and the arrangements for barriers and clearing up at the end of the day.
Competence checks belong here too: which cards and certificates you will ask to see, and when. Say so in advance, so nobody is turned away at the gate after a two-hour drive.
Who gets what
One induction per audience
Maintaining three separate documents invites drift: six months on, the assembly point is still correct in two of them. So keep the shared core (site rules, emergency procedure, assembly point) identical in every induction, and let only the middle section change per audience.
With E-lia you create a separate QR code and induction for each audience, for example one at the gate for contractors and one at reception for visitors. Each induction carries its own questions, and your dashboard shows which induction each person completed. What to keep from that is in the article on induction records. Jan De Nul runs its gates on E-lia.
For what an induction is and what the law requires, see the guide to site inductions.
A different induction per audience?
A separate QR code and induction per audience, and per person a record of who completed what.
