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Safety and Health Inspections
The hazard analysis process has a number of checkpoints. We start with the
expert survey, perform change analysis, and have routine examinations
of jobs, processes, and phases of work. The last formal checkpoint
is the inspection which is designed to catch hazards missed at the other
stages. While an alert and competent workforce is the constant "real
time" protection against accident and injury, inspections provide the
final clear and concentrated focus on potential problems.
But let's
be realistic. To gather a handful of people and tell them to walk
the floors of the facility and "inspect" is virtually useless. The
dentist who inspects your teeth at your semi-annual visit has years of
training and usually knows your history and what to look for. So
does the mechanic who inspects your car. With this in mind, here
are some things to consider about the inspection process.
Always know
why an inspection is being conducted! In other words, make sure
the objectives of the activity are known and clear to everyone involved.
It could be to:
- Meet OSHA or other legal obligations.
- Involve the team in safety.
- Identify areas of undue risk and high loss potential.
- Provide safety education.
- Check past training and skill development.
- Identify and develop positive safety attitudes.
- Suggest better job methods.
- Reinforce the positive efforts of people in the workplace!
When it comes
to OSHA, keep this fact in mind. OSHA only recommends general
workplace inspections; but, certain inspections are required.
You should always check the standards to be sure you know what you must
do in your facility. For example, the following items are
generally necessary in most facilities; but this isn't a complete list
by any means. Check the standards for others not listed here.
- Cranes and derricks
- Industrial slings
- Manlifts
- Mechanical power presses and forging equipment
- Portable and fixed dry chemical extinguishers
- Powered industrial trucks
- Powered platforms (exterior use)
- Respiratory protection, including monthly inspections of emergency respirators
- Welding, cutting and brazing equipment
Many companies
find it helpful to use checklists for their inspections to ensure that
important items are not overlooked. If they're helpful, that's fine;
but your people should really be trained to question anything
which doesn't appear safe or proper and not limit themselves to what's
on the checklist. One fairly comprehensive collection of checklists
is contained in the
OSHA Handbook for Small Businesses, Publication 2209.
In addition, lots of vendors and organizations and books have inspection
checklists they recommend or sell. If you find them helpful, buy.
But, there are other approaches:
- Make your checklist based on:
- Past problems.
- Standards which apply to your industry.
- Specific standards of concern to you.
- Input from employees.
- Your company standard practices or safety rule book.
- Use inspections teams with broad safety skills.
- Include supervisors, mechanics, and operators with specific backgrounds.
- Have trainees make up checklists based on training completed.
- Work from job procedures or JSAs.
When you put your checklists together, avoid excessive detail, vague criteria,
and forms which try to impress or overwhelm. Remember, these are
all just tools to aid in training. Once your people are skilled inspectors,
they won't need checklists and they probably won't let hazards sit until
the inspection team cones by. Ideally, if your safety culture is
strong, hazards will rarely crop up and most will be corrected on the
spot by the first employee aware of the problem.
When it comes
to documentation, you can write an inspection on notebook paper; but a
standard format and approach helps keep thing organized. Here are
some basic criteria for what to put on the report:
Have a form which tells who, what, when, why, and where. You'll
need this information to get the correction process working.
- Make the form or report easy to follow and use. Managers and those
taking action on the report should be able to see at a glance the
status of their organization.
- Include recommendations so those taking corrective action have some guidance.
- Be helpful
and encouraging. There is no need for an inspection to focus
only on problems. If the team finds excellent conditions and
positive safety behaviors, write it up! This is an opportunity
for positive reinforcement!
- Rank
findings and show status of correction so results can be tracked,
plotted, and understood. For example, our sample form shows
some coding at the bottom which tells at a glance how serious the
findings are and the status of corrective action. You can also
track the findings and corrections on a graph so it's easy for people
to see how you're doing as the chart on this page shows.
- Be sure
all items are corrected! Inspections lose punch and management
credibility for safety takes a real dive fast if results aren't obvious
every time!
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