1. Get acquainted with your new recruits before training begins. Take a relaxed tour of the workplace and introduce trainees to co-workers and key people including the health and safety manager.
2. Have new and young workers shadow a more experienced worker to learn from watching others. Provide new workers with a mentor they can bring their questions and concerns to.
3. Don’t mistake silence for quiet understanding. Few young workers will voluntarily ask questions or seek clarification, so it is your job to pull those questions from them.
4. Encourage and reward questions from new workers, making it clear that feedback from new and young workers is always valued.
5. Vary your instructional techniques to ensure all workers absorb your message. People learn in different ways so it is important to do more than simply show and tell. Ask workers to demonstrate what they've learned or to provide a verbal or written explanation.
6. Explain why specific procedures are in place. Workers who understand the rationale behind a policy or procedure are more likely to observe it.
7. Lead by example. Your actions must match your words every time.
8. Make yourself available to answer questions before, during and after training.
9. Provide examples of unsafe equipment and work conditions and explain why it is important workers report safety concerns to you or another supervisor.
10. Start all over with your training when a young worker returns to the job for a second summer. The workplace may have changed, and your young employee has had most of a year to forget everything you taught him in 2010.

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