# Training sign-off sheet template: one page per station, signed by trainer and trainee

*Guides · Mays Team · October 3, 2026*

![Mays cover card: Training sign-off sheet template: one page per station, signed by trainer and trainee — Watch them do it, then sign it, station by station](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/blog__station-training-sign-off-sheet-template__cover.3f7c4c9cfc.png)

"She's trained on the bar" can mean anything from "watched someone make a latte once" to "has opened the bar alone for a month." A sign-off sheet makes it mean one thing: a trainer watched this person do each part of the station to your standard, on a date, and both of them signed.

Our role posts list what to teach: the [line cook's stations](https://www.mays.app/blog/hiring-a-line-cook-job-description-stage-station-training), the [barista's first week](https://www.mays.app/blog/hiring-a-barista-job-description-interview-training), and the structure of a [new hire's first week](https://www.mays.app/blog/training-first-hires-one-week). This post is the **record**: the sheet that goes with each station, how to write the competencies on it, and the team matrix that shows at a glance who can work where.

*This is general information, not legal advice. Your state may have its own training, certification and youth employment rules.*

## Why bother writing it down

- **It decides the schedule.** You can't put someone alone on the grill on Saturday unless you know they're signed off on it.
- **It's the evidence.** The FDA Food Code makes the person in charge responsible for ensuring that *"EMPLOYEES are properly trained in FOOD safety, including FOOD allergy awareness, as it relates to their assigned duties"* (§2-103.11(O), [2022 FDA Food Code](https://www.fda.gov/food/fda-food-code/food-code-2022); the [2026 edition](https://www.fda.gov/food/fda-food-code/food-code-2026) keeps it). A signed sheet per station is how you show that, station by station.
- **It makes promotions fair.** "Signed off on every station" is a clear line for a [shift lead promotion](https://www.mays.app/blog/hiring-a-shift-lead-job-description-promotion-criteria).

## How to write a competency

Write each line as something the trainer can **watch** the trainee do, with the standard in it. Not "knows the espresso machine", but "pulls a double shot in 25 to 30 seconds, three times in a row, without help."

| Weak | Strong |
| --- | --- |
| Knows food safety | Probes the chicken in the thickest part and reads it out before it leaves the grill |
| Understands allergens | Answers "does the pesto have nuts?" from the allergen chart, and knows what to do with a nut allergy order |
| Can close | Breaks down, cleans and restocks the station so the opener needs nothing |
| Good with customers | Greets within 10 seconds, repeats the order back, hands off by name |

Use your own numbers: the 25 to 30 seconds is whatever your recipe card says.

## The three levels

Each line on the sheet moves through three levels, with a date and the trainer's initials at each:

1. **Shown:** the trainer showed it and explained why.
2. **Done with help:** the trainee did it with the trainer next to them.
3. **Signed off:** the trainee did it to standard, alone, on a real shift, more than once.

Only level 3 counts for the schedule. A line can sit at level 2 for a week; that's fine, as long as everyone knows it.

## The sign-off sheet

Print one per station per person.

**Station** ________ **Trainee** ________ **Trainer** ________ **Start date** ________ **Location** ________

| \# | Competency | Shown (date, initials) | Done with help (date, initials) | Signed off (date, initials) | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 2 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 3 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 4 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 5 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 6 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 7 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 8 |  |  |  |  |  |

**Every station sheet includes these lines:** handwashing at the right sink and the right times; the station's temperatures and what to do when one is off; the allergens on the station's items; the station's chemicals, where the SDS is, and the protective equipment for them; the station's close.

**Final sign-off**

|  | Name | Signature | Date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Trainee: "I can do every line above without help." |  |  |  |
| Trainer: "I watched every line done to standard." |  |  |  |
| Manager: "Cleared to work this station alone." |  |  |  |

## A filled example: espresso bar

| \# | Competency | Shown | With help | Signed off |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Opens the bar from the opening checklist, grinder dialed in to the recipe card's shot time | 3/2 AB | 3/3 AB | 3/9 AB |
| 2 | Pulls doubles to the recipe card's weight and time, three in a row | 3/2 AB | 3/3 AB | 3/6 AB |
| 3 | Steams milk and oat milk to the right texture and temperature, separate pitchers | 3/2 AB | 3/4 AB | 3/9 AB |
| 4 | Builds every drink on the menu from the card, in the rush | 3/3 AB | 3/5 AB |  |
| 5 | Answers allergen questions from the chart; uses clean pitchers for a dairy allergy | 3/2 AB | 3/4 AB | 3/6 AB |
| 6 | Cleans group heads, steam wands and grinder at close | 3/4 AB | 3/5 AB | 3/10 AB |

Line 4 isn't signed off yet, so this barista isn't on the bar alone on Saturday morning.

## The team training matrix

One page per location, on the office wall or in your files, built from the sheets. **S** = signed off, **H** = done with help, blank = not started.

| Name | Register | Espresso bar | Pastry case | Grill | Fryer | Dish | Opening | Closing |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

Check it when you build the schedule: every shift needs at least one **S** on every station it opens. A column with only one **S** is a call-out away from a problem; train a second person on it next.

## When a sign-off has to be redone

- **The recipe, equipment or procedure changed.** A new espresso machine or a new menu item resets the lines it affects.
- **Something went wrong** that the sheet says they could do: a temperature not taken, an allergen question answered wrong.
- **Long gap.** Someone who hasn't worked a station in months gets a refresher shift before they're back on it alone.
- **A teen turns 16 or 18.** Some stations open up at those ages (below).

## Training time is paid time

Federal rules count training as work time unless four conditions are all met: *"(a) Attendance is outside of the employee's regular working hours; (b) Attendance is in fact voluntary; (c) The course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee's job; and (d) The employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance"* ([29 CFR 785.27](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-785.27)). And *"Attendance is not voluntary, of course, if it is required by the employer"* ([29 CFR 785.28](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-785.28)). Station training fails at least the third condition, so schedule it and pay it.

## Teens: some stations can't be signed off

Write the age limits on the station's sheet, so nobody signs off a station the law doesn't allow:

- **14 and 15:** cooking is limited to *"electric or gas grills which does not involve cooking over an open flame"* and *"deep fryers that are equipped with and utilize a device which automatically lowers the baskets into the hot oil or grease and automatically raises the baskets"* ([29 CFR 570.34(c)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-570.34)).
- **Under 18:** no operating or cleaning power-driven meat slicers, grinders or patty formers, *"regardless of the product being processed by these machines"* ([29 CFR 570.61(a)(4)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-570.61)).

States often add their own limits. Our minors pages, starting with [Florida's](https://www.mays.app/blog/florida-employing-minors-restaurant), cover them state by state.

## Where Mays fits

- **The sign-off as a form.** Build a custom form under **Tasks → Types** called, say, *Bar sign-off*: an **Employee** field for the trainee, a **Section header** per group of lines, a **Single choice** field per competency (*Shown*, *With help*, *Signed off*), a **Date / time** field, and **Signature** fields for the trainee and the trainer. The trainer fills it in the Mays app, and **Export CSV** on its Task Data page lists every sign-off. Send it as a one-off task to the trainer when training starts. See [Custom form task types](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/custom-form-task-types) and [One-off tasks](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/one-off-tasks).
- **The knowledge part.** In **Learning**, an admin builds a module from your knowledge base articles (the recipe cards, the allergen chart) and the AI drafts a quiz to review and edit before it's published, with a passing score of 80% unless you change it. Assign it to a location, a role, a department or a person. A module marked compliance-critical issues a certificate when someone passes. See [Create learning modules](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/create-learning-modules).
- **Ages on the position.** With Labor law compliance on, a position can carry a **Minimum age** and the tasks it involves, like a meat or deli slicer or cooking other than on a grill or an automatic fryer, and Mays warns you when someone too young is scheduled in it at a location with minors' rules on. See [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages).

What Mays doesn't do yet: there's no sign-off record per station per person, and no training matrix, so the schedule can't tell you who's cleared for the grill; keep the matrix from your forms. Learning modules are built and assigned by admins only, and a quiz score is not a sign-off: it tells you they know it, not that they can do it.

## Sign it, then schedule it

Write competencies you can watch, sign each line at three levels, keep a matrix from the sheets, and schedule people alone only where they're signed off. It's a page per station, and it settles every "is she trained on that?" for good.

[**Start your free trial**](https://go.mays.app/register): 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or [book a walkthrough](https://www.mays.app/book?from=blog-station-training-sign-off-sheet-template) and we'll build your first sign-off form with you.

## Related help articles

- Knowledge & training: [Creating training modules](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/create-learning-modules) — Turn your knowledge base articles and documents into a short quiz. The AI drafts the questions from your own text, you review and edit them, then publish the module for your team.
- Knowledge & training: [Assigning training](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/assign-training) — Send a published training module to whole locations, roles, departments or single people, with an optional due date, then see who has taken it, their best score and every answer.
- Knowledge & training: [Training certificates](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/training-certificates) — When someone passes a compliance-critical module for the first time, Mays creates a PDF certificate with their name, score and date. Admins set the certificate's look under Learning → Settings.
- Tasks & checklists: [Building custom forms (Task Types)](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/custom-form-task-types) — Build your own task forms, like a cash count, a temperature log or a waste log, under Tasks → Types. Staff fill them in the app, and every answer lands in Task Data, ready to export.
- Tasks & checklists: [Creating one-off tasks](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/one-off-tasks) — Need something done today that isn't on a checklist? Create a one-off task for one person or the whole location, on the web or in the app, or straight from a chat message.
- Scheduling: [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages) — Create the jobs people work — Barista, Cashier, Line Cook — with a colour and a default hourly wage, give people their positions and pay, and see where Mays uses them.

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