SiteIt's their first Monday. You waited five months for this engineer. They've got good tickets, ten years on packaging lines and a decent PLC background.
By 9am they've got a hi-vis, a locker and a login that doesn't work yet. By 10am the wrapper on line 3 has stopped and the team is short. So the new starter goes with the shift fitter, "just to see how we do things".
By Thursday they're on lates covering on their own. Nobody has shown them the isolation points on line 3. Nobody told them the drawings for the case packer are wrong.
Their skills were fine. The site threw them in on day one because it was short, and that's how most new starters get let down.
Why the first month matters
HSE's figure is stark. Workers are "as likely to have an accident in their first 6 months at work as during the whole of the rest of their working life" (HSE, new to the job). The reasons it gives fit an engineer on a new site well. Not knowing the site layout. Not wanting to raise concerns. Eagerness to impress.
An experienced engineer on a strange site is still new. They know how to isolate a motor. They don't know that your conveyor has a second supply from the next panel.
The law expects you to train people when they join. Employers must provide "adequate health and safety training" on recruitment, and take people's capabilities into account when giving them tasks (Management Regulations 1999, regulation 13). Anyone using work equipment needs adequate training on the methods, the risks and the precautions (PUWER, regulation 9).
There's a cost side too. You've spent months and money getting this person. A bad first month is the quickest way to lose them.
Before day one
Get the dull stuff done before they arrive, so the first week is about the site.
You must check their right to work in the UK before you employ them (GOV.UK). The principal written statement of their terms is due on the first day of employment. The wider statement, covering things like pensions and disciplinary rules, follows within 2 months* (GOV.UK).
Then sort out the practical things. PPE in their size. Logins for the CMMS and the email. A locker. A named buddy on their shift. A printed plan for the first four weeks. These are small things, but a new engineer notices whether you were ready for them.
Week one: the site, the rules and the isolations
No solo work in week one. Pair them with your most patient engineer, not your busiest.
Spend the first day walking the site. Every line, every panel room, the compressor house, the boiler, the stores. Show them where the main hazards are. HSE's guide for new starters says to walk the site and point them out (HSE).
Then do isolations on every machine they'll work on. Where the isolators are, which machines have more than one supply, where the stored energy is. Air, hydraulics, springs, gravity. Our guide to safe isolation covers the method. What they need from you is your site's version of it.
Cover the site rules by the end of the week:
- your permit to work system and who signs permits (permits to work)
- hot work, confined spaces and work at height rules
- how breakdowns are called in, logged and handed over
- who can approve a callout or a spare over a set value
- the emergency arrangements and first aid on each shift
Weeks two and three: the kit
Now go machine by machine, starting with the ones that stop the site.
Use your criticality list if you have one. For each machine, the new engineer should know the common faults, where the drawings and manuals are, and which spares are on the shelf. Let them shadow breakdowns, then lead them with the buddy watching.
Ask them to keep a list of anything that doesn't match. Drawings that are wrong. Labels that are missing. Spares that are in the CMMS but not in the cage. A fresh pair of eyes is worth a lot in week two, before they get used to it.
Watch how they work, not only what they fix. Do they isolate every time? Do they ask when they don't know? HSE's advice is to check people have understood their training and are acting on it (HSE).
Week four: their first shifts on their own
Here's our view. Don't put a new engineer on nights on their own in the first month. However good they are.
Nights are where the gaps in their site knowledge cost the most. There's no one to ask and production wants the line back. A small fault on an unfamiliar machine can turn into a lost shift, or someone hurt. If you're short on nights, cover that shift some other way while they settle in. Our post on why breakdowns on nights take longer explains why.
Start them on their own on days or lates, with the buddy one phone call away. Agree what they should call out for, and make it clear that calling is the right thing to do.
Day 30: sit down and review it
Book 30 minutes at the end of the month. Two-way.
Ask them what's gone well, what's confused them, and what they'd change. Then go through what they can do on their own and what still needs support. Put it in your skills matrix, and record the training in their file.
Set the plan for months two and three. Which machines next? Which courses? When do they join the night rota?
After 30 days you'll have a fair idea whether you hired well. So will they, about whether they joined well.
What to do on Monday
- Write a four-week plan for your next starter, with a named buddy and the machines in order of criticality.
- List every machine with more than one supply or stored energy, and make walking those isolations part of week one.
- Agree that no new engineer works nights alone in the first month, and decide now how you'll cover that shift.
- Put a day 30 review in the diary for anyone who started in the last month.
* Written statement deadlines correct as of 13 October 2026. Check GOV.UK for the latest.