Inspections are a necessary part of safety compliance and a valuable tool for many reasons.
Even though regularly completed, there is no need for them to become just a thing that gets done, they can be a very valuable tool for supervisors and managers to save money in the long run.
Our top 5 tips for ensuring your work site inspections are beneficial for you and your workforce.
Tip 1: Who
Think about why an inspection of the workplace is required and who has the experience and knowledge to complete an inspection that fulfills its purpose, the inspection team must be experienced, understand the work being done, and legislative requirements.
Insider tip: Make sure your inspector is trained and competent before delegating inspections to them, it is a COR requirement.
Tip 2: What
Be sure to have a list of key things to look for during the inspection. This will change week to week based on the scope of work and workers on-site but covers some regular items, such as housekeeping, emergency response supplies, PPE, and personnel compliance.
Insider tip: Use a standardized form to help guide the inspector to cover all the important areas. Its easy to foget something without a checklist.
Tip 3: Review
Looking back at previous inspections is necessary to allow the inspector to check previous corrective actions have been completed and followed up.
Insider tip: This gives the inspector a guide to start and understand the attitude of the work site to safety, if they haven't fixed previous corrective actions, they may need more help with understanding the reason for inspections and the consequences of not taking action.
Tip 4: Develop SMART corrective actions
When non-conformities are identified it is important that corrective actions are specific, allocated to a responsible worker, and have a time frame for completion. It is far easier for an item to be corrected when it's clear what needs to be done to fix it.
Insider tip: Be sure to touch base with a representatvie on site before you leave to explain what you identified, a quick chat can ensure you get further commitment from the work site.
Tip 5: Monitor
Follow up to ensure corrective actions are completed and documented. It is an audit requirement to ensure controls and corrective measures are implemented accordingly.
Insider tip: If you don't follow up, then the message to the work site is - it's not that important and they are less likely to take the inspections seriously
Where to find more help
If you need some help along the way, contact us at BVSCanada.com, here's our Work Site Inspection method.