Free Template · Pre-Start Discipline
Take 5 Template: The Flight-Deck Version
A Take 5 template is supposed to make a crew stop, look and think before a task. Most don't. They've become a signature ritual: five boxes ticked from memory in ninety seconds flat, filed in a folder nobody opens. The form outlived the thinking.
Aviation solved this exact problem. Before every departure, a flight crew briefs. Not generic safety, but today's specific threats, in a fixed structure, in about ninety seconds. This page gives you that format, translated for the pit, the plant and the workshop.
Diagnosis
Why most Take 5s stopped working
Three reasons, and none of them are your crew's fault. First, the prompts are generic: the same five questions for a bearing change and a bench grind. Second, they're answered from memory, and memory is what fails. Third, nothing about yesterday's card is different from today's, so the exercise carries no information. A form that's identical every day teaches a crew that nothing changes, which is precisely the belief that gets people hurt.
The Format
The THREAT Brief: aviation's version of the Take 5
Six letters. Ninety seconds to three minutes. One rule: specific beats complete.
THE THREAT BRIEF
TODAY
What's different today? Weather, ground conditions, concurrent crews, new faces, first shift back. If nothing is different, look harder.
HAZARDS
The top three for this task. Three, not thirty. A list of thirty is a list of none.
ROLES
Who has control of what? Who is the second set of eyes on the critical step? Names, out loud.
ESCALATION
What stops this job? Agree the triggers before you start: that is your go-around call, made while everyone is calm.
ASSETS
The controls that actually matter today: isolations, permits, exclusion zones, comms. Verify they exist. Don't assume.
TALKBACK
Around the circle: each person states one threat in their own words. If they can't, the brief didn't land. Run the gap again.
Delivery
How to run it on site
Standing up, at the job, with the task in view, not in the crib room. Ninety seconds to three minutes; any longer is a meeting, any shorter is a signature. Yesterday's brief is invalid by definition, because today is a different day. And the Talkback step is not optional: hearing the threat repeated back in someone else's words is the only proof it landed. In aviation we call that a readback, and nothing proceeds without one.
Free Download
Get the printable THREAT card, free
The template ships inside the Pre-Start Briefing Pack, alongside a Challenge and Response verification card and three read-aloud pre-start talks built from aviation's hardest-won lessons. One email. No spam.
FAQ
Questions crews actually ask
Is a Take 5 legally required in Australia?
The Take 5 itself isn't named in legislation. It's a common way operators meet the duty to identify and manage risks under WHS law. The legal obligation is genuine hazard identification. A stale form doesn't discharge that duty; a real ninety-second conversation does.
What's the difference between a Take 5 and a JSA or JSEA?
Scale and timing. A JSA/JSEA is a planned, documented, task-level analysis done before the work is scheduled. A Take 5 happens at the point of work, minutes before starting, by the people doing it. The THREAT format upgrades the second without replacing the first.
How long should a Take 5 take?
Ninety seconds to three minutes. The value is in specificity, not duration.
Can I photocopy and adapt the template?
Yes. Share it within your crew, that's what it's for.