The first-week checklist for a new operator in sheet metal and fabrication units

New operators in fabrication rarely get hurt by the machine first. They get hurt by the metal. A laser-cut blank has an edge like a razor. A stack of offcuts slides when a castor snags a floor crack. A flap disc somebody left half-worn flings grit at an unshielded eye. Most of that happens in the first few days, when the newcomer is keen to look useful.

The one-pager below slows those days down on purpose. Print it on a single side, clip it to a board, and hand it to the newcomer's minder on Monday morning.

Top line: joiner's name, trade, start date, minder, shift in-charge.
DAY 1: entry card handed over. Locker, washroom, drinking water and canteen shown.
DAY 1: kit issued and signed for: steel-toe shoes, cut-resistant gloves, goggles, earplugs, apron if near welding.
DAY 1: muster point, fire extinguishers, first-aid box, eyewash and the named first-aider shown.
DAY 1: walk a job's route from the plate racks past shearing, the brake, the welding bays and the coating booth to the packing table.
DAY 1: who to ask about pay, attendance and leave, by name.
DAY 2: two-person carrying of long blanks, gloves on before any edge is touched, no sliding a plate off a stack by hand.
DAY 2: castored trolleys, the pallet truck lane, yellow walkway lines, offcut bins and the scrap skip.
DAY 2: reading a job card: job number, drawing revision, quantity, next station.
DAY 3: at the assigned station, under watch: guard check, emergency stop, light curtain or two-hand control.
DAY 3: at the deburring bench: flap disc condition, angle grinder guard, spark direction, sleeves buttoned.
DAY 3: in a welding bay: arc-flash curtain, fume hood, torch cable, earth clamp, chipping hammer and wire brush.
DAY 4: steel rule, tape, protractor and try square, and why the opening piece of a batch gets measured.
DAY 4: how to fill a rework tag, and that reporting a fault is expected.
DAY 5: minder and newcomer talk for ten minutes about anything that puzzled or frightened him.
DAY 5: supervisor confirms shift, overtime rule and the next skill to learn.
DAY 6: three signatures, from joiner, minder and shift in-charge. Matrix entry begins at level 1.
RULE: no machine run alone in week one, however experienced the joiner claims to be.

Kit and the emergency layout lead because nobody remembers them later. Handling precedes machines because blanks and offcuts are the hazard a newcomer meets hourly. Machines arrive on Wednesday, one station only, introduced through interlocks, curtains and stop buttons before any pedal or jog key. Measuring and the rework tag arrive on day four, once the joiner can stand at a station without worrying.

Experienced joiners will push to skip ahead. A bender from a larger shop may know press brakes well. He does not know your back gauge, your dies, or where your emergency stops sit. Give him the same week, and let the minder move briskly through the parts he already knows.

• The minder ticks each line once it is shown and jots a word beside anything skipped or muddled.
• The new operator signs on day six to say he was shown each item, in a language he reads or after it was read aloud.
• The shift in-charge reads the ticks on Saturday, holds a short chat and starts the joiner's matrix entry.
• HR or the office puts the completed page into the personnel folder and logs when the shoes and gloves went out.

Choose minders with care. The right one is a patient level 3 hand working the newcomer's own shift, not whoever is idle. Thank minders publicly at month end, since the role eats into their own output.

The checklist is most often abandoned exactly when it matters: a large order lands and six helpers join on one Monday. Run it in a group then. Monday and Tuesday suit a batch. From day three, split the joiners across stations so each has a buddy. Casual hands added for a few weeks still get the full first two days.

Saturday's signatures mark a starting line, not a finish. The newcomer's grid entry now needs a next step and a month. Many shops add short checks around day thirty and day ninety. They show whether the joiner has climbed a level and whether he plans to stay.

For a fuller look at the first month on the floor, see onboarding a new joiner in sheet metal and fabrication. The staged induction used by metal stamping units shows how press work can be signed off step by step. For handling and packing hands, see onboarding at industrial enclosure makers. Patterns across the trade sit on our fabrication industry page. To adapt the one-pager to your stations, describe your shop to us.