Within an hour of arriving, a newcomer on a plastics floor is close to molten resin at the nozzle and a platen that shuts with huge force. Granulator blades, heater bands, a crane hook and a forklift lane are a few steps away. On an extrusion line add a cut-off saw, haul-off tracks and a coiler that can snatch a sleeve. Most units pair the newcomer with whoever is free. This sheet pairs them with a named senior hand and a fixed order of learning.
The printable sheet
Newcomer, start date, shift, press or line, senior hand, supervisor.
Gate: identity card, locker, kit signed for: safety shoes, earplugs, heat-resistant gloves, cap.
Hot zones shown with the machine stopped: nozzle, barrel, heater bands, hot runner, die face.
Closing gaps shown: platen and mould area, ejector side, robot or sprue picker swing, haul-off tracks.
Every emergency stop on this machine pressed once, with the senior hand watching.
Interlock proved: guard door opened, machine refuses to cycle.
Four nevers spoken aloud: no hand past a guard, no touching a nozzle or die, no clearing a jam while running, no standing under a hook.
The part: name, customer, limit sample and the defect board at this machine.
Faults on this job, such as flash, black specks, warp, ovality or gauge bands, and which bin each goes to.
Hold tags: what they mean, and that only the inspector moves tagged bins or rolls.
Off limits until trained: granulator, purging, settings, mould and die work, crane.
Watched the senior hand run a full hour of cycles or a full coil.
Removed parts, trimmed or tended the winder with the senior hand beside.
Checks: weighing a shot or a length, using the gauge or tape, writing on the check sheet.
Packing: count, carton or bundle label, clearing the station between lots.
Shift: handover card at the machine, break relief, how to report absence, night contact numbers.
Welfare: canteen, drinking water, bus or shuttle timings, where to raise a worry about safety or treatment.
Friday sit-down: newcomer shows three things on the machine and repeats the four nevers.
Outcome: level 2 on one named task, or another week with the senior hand.
Signed by newcomer, senior hand and supervisor. Filed with HR.Add-on rows by trade
- Injection moulding: the purge pile is hot inside long after the surface looks set. Stay clear while the setter purges.
- Blow moulding: flash tails and pinch-off scrap come out hot and sharp. Gloves stay on at the deflashing bench.
- Pipe and profile extrusion: never step over a moving pipe, and keep away from the saw carriage when it travels.
- Blown and cast film: nip rolls and winder shafts grab loose cloth. Sleeves rolled down and buttoned, dupatta or scarf tucked away.
- Every trade: resin bags and masterbatch sacks are lifted the way the senior hand shows, not thrown.
Running the sheet through the week
- 1
Prepare it before the newcomer arrives
Write the senior hand's name and the press or line on top. If no senior hand can be spared that week, delay the start date rather than skip the pairing.
- 2
Two ticks per row
The senior hand ticks when an item is shown. The newcomer ticks once they can explain it unprompted. One tick means unfinished.
- 3
Hazards on day one, everything else spread out
Hot zones, closing gaps, stops and the four nevers come first. The part, checks and packing follow over the next days, a few rows at a time.
- 4
Speak it where reading is hard
Use the newcomer's language and touch the real guard, the real stop and the real limit sample while explaining.
- 5
Hold the Friday sit-down
The supervisor watches three tasks and hears the four nevers. The outcome goes on the sheet and the first level goes on the skill matrix.
Who signs, and how often the sheet changes
The senior hand works through it daily at the machine. The newcomer keeps a photo of the four nevers. The supervisor runs the Friday sit-down and signs. HR files it and records the first level on the grid described in our plastics skill matrix post. Every quarter the sheet gets edited, using whatever recent newcomers got wrong. Reuse the middle rows whenever an existing operator moves to a new machine family.
Why week one decides so much
Plastics floors lose newcomers in two ways. Some get burned, pinched or cut before they know which surfaces stay hot and which gaps close. Others walk out after a first night that felt like being dropped in. One page, one named senior hand and a Friday conversation lower both risks.
Early exits are one of the recurring patterns on the plastic manufacturing HR page. Component moulders will find a related routine under component makers' onboarding. Film and pouch converters can compare it with packaging makers' onboarding.
