Site Inspections
Being in business poses many types of risk. Of all the types of risks, health and safety risks are the ones that demand the most attention. After all, ensuring a safe workplace for all employees is the responsibility of every employer. Potential safety hazards must be mitigated with an effective risk management process. Before implementing such a process, safety risks and hazards need to be found. This is where site safety inspections come in.
In this blog, we will highlight why workplace safety inspections are important and some best practices to ensure that your site safety inspections are effective.
What does a Safety Inspection involve?
A safety inspection involves thorough scrutiny of the workplace to:
- Check for compliance with health and safety regulations.
- Identify and record potential health and safety hazards.
- Review safety equipment (e.g., fire extinguishers, first aid kits, safety shoes, protective gear, etc.).
- Examine the effectiveness of your workplace safety practices.
- Recommend corrective actions to mitigate any hazards.
Why are Safety Inspections important?
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) release regular statistics on work-related ill health. The impact this is having on Great Britain’s economic performance is clear:
- 36.8 million working days were lost due to work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injuries in 2021/22.
- The annual economic cost of work-related injury and new cases of ill health (excluding long latency illnesses such as cancer) was £18.8 billion in 2019/20.
The figures show that 123 workers were killed in work-related accidents in 2021/22 and a further 565,000 workers sustained a non-fatal injury.
The best way to make sure you are not becoming part of these staggering statistics is to make sure you have regular Safety Inspections.
Furthermore, conducting safety inspections in the workplace is important to ensure you are complying with health and safety regulations, however compliance is not the only reason to carry out regular inspections. They can also help with the following:
- To reduce the risk of accidents and injuries
- To create an atmosphere of safety and security in the workplace
- To show commitment to ensuring your employee wellbeing
- To obtain certain insurances. A detailed inspection report or an inspection certificate may support insurance applications.
What are the steps to conduct effective Safety Inspections in the workplace?
Consider this as part of your business’s continual improvement plans. Here are our five steps:
1. Create an Inspection Strategy
Planning for safety inspections is a must. Inspections should be regular, so decide how regularly you're going to conduct them (ideally, one every six months or so) and when these inspections would be.
Try to ensure that your inspection covers all the shifts in the day. Consider irregular work such as equipment maintenance activities, so that all possible hazards are explored. This schedule should then be communicated to those likely to be involved in the inspection such as shift supervisors, managers, etc.
ST Safety Services have been providing safety inspections for many years and can guide you through the process conduct the safety inspection. We know exactly what areas to consider, helping you avoid common pitfalls.
2. Conduct the Safety Inspection
Now it's time to carry out the safety inspection. The inspector will observe all work processes and equipment closely, looking for possible workplace hazards including:
- Inadequate machine guards.
- Malfunctioning safety equipment.
- Absence of a well-stocked first aid kit.
- Biological hazards.
- Environmental issues.
- Physical hazards such as wear and tear of equipment, heat, electrical hazards, etc.
- Poor work practices like using machinery without adequate safety training + more.
During the inspection they will communicate any immediate danger or hazards to you, so that you can fix the issue as soon as possible. For example, if a piece of equipment that is currently being used is unsafe to prevent accidents.
3. Review the Data
Once the inspection data is collected, it will be reviewed, and you will be provided with a report so that you can take actions to mitigate the hazards and improve workplace practices.
Any trends in the collected data will be identified to help get to the root causes of issues and make changes to prevent the hazard.
4. Implement Corrective Actions
The whole process of inspecting your workplace for safety issues would be pointless if you don't use the data to help prevent risk.
In your inspection report it will suggest the actions to be taken. When taking the actions forward consider the delegation of the work that needs to be completed and deadlines. How will progress be reported and monitored. Lastly who is responsible for the corrective actions and who should stakeholders report to.
5. Follow Up
Schedule regular follow-ups to ensure that your findings from the safety inspection are being acted upon. When the proposed deadlines for the actions pass, ask those delegated for progress reports and follow up to check if the solution is working.
If a hazard persists despite acting on them, it might be that the root cause of the issue has not been eliminated, making further investigation necessary.
ST Safety Services can help guide you through the process from start to finish. Remember that this is a continuous process and that five steps can lead to effective results.
A client recently said: -
“I would highly recommend ST Safety Services to any small business for all things health and safety.
Steve is not only highly knowledgeable and meticulous in his health and safety inspections, he is genuine and has excellent customer care skills.
He was honest and recommended the most suitable service to us, rather than trying to sell something more expensive but unnecessary. Steve also follows up afterwards and keeps in touch with useful information.
Steve also has great contacts who can help with other areas to make sure all of our health and safety requirements are met. Thank you, Steve!”
So, if you are looking for an honest, no-nonsense service that will be valued, contact us today.