New Hire Safety Orientation Checklist — Free Printable Form
The first day is when a worker is most likely to be hurt and least likely to know who to ask. This checklist walks the orientation in the order it is actually given — where things are, what the hazards are here, what training was covered, and what to do when something goes wrong — then records who gave it, who received it, and when. Print it or download the PDF. Nothing you type is sent to our servers.
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Template for informational purposes only. This document must be reviewed and adapted by a competent or qualified person for your specific jobsite, equipment, and applicable federal, state, and local requirements. It does not constitute legal, engineering, or safety advice and does not by itself establish compliance with OSHA or any other standard. SteelToeTools assumes no liability for its use. Nothing you type is sent to our servers.
How to use this checklist
- 1Do the site half on the site. Half of this form is information that cannot be delivered in a trailer: which gate, which stairs, where the crane swings, where the water is, which trade is above you this week. Walk it with the sheet.
- 2Give it in a language the person understands, and write down which one. Then have them explain one thing back to you — where the muster point is, or how to report an injury. That thirty seconds is worth more than any signature on the page.
- 3Use the third training state honestly. “Not yet — do not assign this work” is what makes the record useful to a foreman on Thursday. A form where everything was covered on day one describes an orientation that did not happen.
- 4Record what was already trained, and verify it. Prior fall protection training is fine and reusable — 1926.503(b)(1) even provides for it, requiring the record to show the date the employer determined the previous training was adequate. What is not fine is assuming it.
- 5Finish with the first job, not with the paperwork. The last section is the on-the-job review of the practices needed to do the first assignment safely. It is the only part of an orientation that maps directly onto what the person does in the next hour.
- 6Book the check-in before you file the form. A five-minute conversation at the end of week one catches everything the first morning was too crowded to land — and it is when new people finally ask the question they were embarrassed to ask on day one.
What OSHA requires on a worker's first day
The federal duty is short and it is absolute. 29 CFR 1926.21(b)(2): “The employer shall instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions and the regulations applicable to his work environment to control or eliminate any hazards or other exposure to illness or injury.” Three more paragraphs add specifics — poisons and caustics in (b)(3), harmful plants and animals in (b)(4), flammable liquids, gases and toxic materials in (b)(5). And 1926.20(f)(2) closes the loop: training standards impose “a separate compliance duty with respect to each employee covered by the requirement”, so each untrained person is potentially a separate violation.
A note on 1926.21(b)(6). Older orientation forms, checklists and training slides still cite “1926.21(b)(6) — confined or enclosed spaces”. That paragraph no longer exists: it was removed when the Confined Spaces in Construction rule was published on May 4, 2015, and the section now stops at (b)(5). Construction confined space training lives in 1926.1207. If your orientation form cites (b)(6), it predates 2015.
| The requirement | Source |
|---|---|
| Instruct each employee in hazard recognition and avoidance, and in the regulations applying to their work | 1926.21(b)(2) |
| Each failure to train an employee may be a separate violation | 1926.20(f)(2) |
| Review with each employee on initial assignment the parts of the emergency action plan they must know to protect themselves | 1926.35(e)(3) |
| Tell each employee how to report a work-related injury or illness, that they have the right to report, and that retaliation is prohibited | 1904.35(b)(1)(ii)-(iii) |
| Hazard communication information and training at the time of initial assignment, and whenever a new chemical hazard appears in the area | 1910.1200(h)(1) |
| PPE training before the employee does work requiring PPE, with a demonstration of understanding and ability to use it | 1910.132(f)(1)-(2) |
| Fall protection training by a competent person, with a written certification record naming the employee, the dates and the trainer | 1926.503(a), (b)(1) |
| Powered industrial truck operators: training, practical exercise and an evaluation before they operate, with the employer's record of it | 1910.178(l)(1), (l)(6) |
| A safety orientation program whose contents are enumerated: injury reporting and first aid location, unsafe condition reporting, PPE use and care, emergency actions and exit routes, hazardous materials and exposure response, a description of the safety program, and an on-the-job review of the first assignment | WAC 296-155-110(3)(a)-(g) — Washington |
| Training to all new employees and on every new assignment, documented with name or identifier, dates, type of training and providers, kept at least one year | 8 CCR 3203(a)(7), (b)(2) — California |
Temporary and staffing agency workers
OSHA's position is that a temporary worker is entitled to the same protections as anyone else, and that the host employer and the staffing agency share the training duty — the host generally owning site-specific hazards and training, the agency owning general training. In practice the argument about who was responsible only ever happens after an injury, and it is settled by paperwork. The employing-company field at the top of this form and the agency field beside it exist so that the record answers the question before it is asked.
This form records that instruction was given. It does not make anyone competent or qualified for anything, and it is not a substitute for the training a specific standard requires, with its own content, its own trainer requirements and, in several cases, its own records.
Frequently asked questions
Sources & references
- 29 CFR 1926.21(b)(2)-(b)(5) — the employer must instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions and the regulations applicable to the work, plus specific instruction on poisons and caustics, harmful plants and animals, and flammable and toxic materials
- 29 CFR 1926.20(f)(2) — training standards impose a separate compliance duty for each employee, and each failure to train an employee may be a separate violation
- 29 CFR 1926.35(b), (e)(3) — the emergency action plan elements, and the duty to review with each employee on initial assignment the parts they must know to protect themselves in an emergency
- 29 CFR 1904.35(b)(1) — you must tell each employee how to report a work-related injury or illness, that they have the right to report, and that retaliation for reporting is prohibited
- 29 CFR 1910.1200(h) — hazard communication information and training at the time of initial assignment, and whenever a new chemical hazard appears in the work area (applies to construction through 1926.59)
- WAC 296-155-110(3) (Washington State Plan) — the only US regulation that enumerates what a construction safety orientation must contain, from how and where to report injuries to an on-the-job review of the practices needed for the first assignment
- 8 CCR 3203(a)(7) and (b)(2) (California) — training to all new employees and on every new assignment, documented with the employee name or identifier, training dates, type of training and providers, kept at least one year
Content checked against these sources — last reviewed September 14, 2026.