The issue has been exposed by Dave Mitchell, a crane operator with Baldwins Crane Hire, who was surprised to find on arriving at a new site that instead of getting a proper site induction he was told just to scroll through some web pages on his phone and tick 鈥榶es鈥� at the end.
He posted on LinkedIn: 鈥淲ell this is a first鈥� just turned up on site in Wigan to lift three cabins in a contract lift using our 250 Grove. Instead of the normal site specific induction which should be informative and given by someone with knowledge of the changing state of the site, I am told I have to be sent a link via email to my personal phone so I can access the online induction.
鈥淎fter the obligatory argument I am told that all I have to do is 鈥榗lick every page and just answer yes to the only question鈥�, which I am told will be 鈥榙o you understand this induction?鈥�
鈥淪o am I to believe that the health and safety culture we have had drilled into us for years and are now working in has turned from being the safest country to work in to being full of sites that are complacent and untrustworthy?
鈥淎nother point is this 鈥榠nduction鈥� will cost me money, after all it is my data that I pay for on my phone. I'm pretty sure as employees we shouldn't have to pay for inductions. What would happen if I was to turn up on site without a phone? Would I be turned away?"
The response to this new development has not been favourable. Safety consultant Mick Norton said: 鈥淚n the modern world technology has its advantages but we need to draw a line in the sand with on line inductions via a cell phone application!聽 Bone idle site management.鈥�
Gwyn Morgan, owner of Morgan Training Services, said: 鈥淭his is inherently flawed; what happens if you need clarification on an issue immediately, phone runs out of charge or no signal is available, to [name] but a few?鈥�
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