Safety Training in the First 90 Days: Why It Sets the Standard

New workers are injured at disproportionately high rates, and the cause frequently traces back to what happened, or didn’t happen, during safety onboarding.

The numbers vary by country, but the picture is consistent. In Australia, a 2026 Unions NSW survey of young workers found that close to four in ten received no safety training when they started a new job, and more than half were never told their work health and safety rights. Canada tells a similar story, with only one in five new workers receiving safety training in their first year, according to the Institute for Work and Health. In both countries, a sizeable portion of the workforce is navigating an unfamiliar workplace without the foundation they need to stay safe.

‍

The first 90 days set the standard.

Safety culture in the workplace takes shape early. The habits, attitudes, and behaviours a new employee develops in their first three months are the ones they carry forward. An employee who learns that shortcuts are tolerated will continue to take them. One who sees safety procedures as concrete expectations will internalise them.

In many cases, the first 90 days are when businesses set safety expectations, demonstrate care for new employees, and build trust that determines how workers respond to safety guidance for the rest of their tenure.

When a company gets this wrong, they no longer need to fix a training program. In many cases, these businesses need to rethink their entire safety culture.

‍

What effective health and safety training looks like in the first 90 days.

Effective safety onboarding isn’t a single orientation session. It’s a structured process that unfolds over time and covers specific ground.

At a minimum, a new employee in a high-risk environment should receive:

An overview of site-specific hazards and the controls in place to manage them
Clear instructions on how and when to report near misses, injuries, and unsafe conditions
Access to current Safety Data Sheets for every hazardous substance they may encounter
Training on the correct use and maintenance of personal protective equipment (PPE)
An introduction to the right to cease unsafe work, a protection set out in Australian WHS laws
Reinforcement of key safety concepts in the weeks following initial onboarding, not just at induction

The final point matters more than most businesses realise. Health and safety training that produces lasting behaviour change is delivered in layers, revisited regularly, and supported by supervisors who model the same standards they expect.

‍

Chemical hazard training is often underestimated in safety onboarding.

Safety onboarding often falls short in chemical hazard training. In industries where workers handle hazardous substances daily, a general overview isn’t enough.

New employees must know:

Exactly which substances they’ll encounter on site
Where to find current Safety Data Sheets for each one
The exposure limits for each substance
What to do in an emergency

This is, of course, more difficult when chemical inventories are large, spread across multiple locations, or not consistently maintained. Under Australian WHS Regulations, a business must keep a register of the hazardous chemicals used, handled or stored at a workplace, and make the current Safety Data Sheet for each one readily accessible to workers. A new worker who asks where to find the SDS for a substance they are about to handle shouldn’t have to wait for an answer.

When chemical information is centralised and accessible, safety onboarding is more effective. New employees can be trained on real, site-specific hazards rather than generic scenarios. Supervisors can point out accurate, current information from day one. And the company immediately shows that it takes chemical hazard safety seriously.

‍

ChemAlert supports chemical safety onboarding.

ChemAlert provides workers, supervisors, and WHS teams with centralised access to accurate Safety Data Sheets and chemical hazard information throughout the organisation. For new employees going through safety onboarding in chemical-intensive environments, having reliable information at their fingertips isn’t just a convenience. It’s a foundational part of keeping employees safe while they’re at their most vulnerable.

Find out how ChemAlert can support health and safety training

‍