Operators should conduct daily inspections of the area and the equipment they operate before they commence work. This includes conducting checks on the safety devices of the tools and machines.
In general a health and safety inspection should cover all work sites in the workplace. The main focus of a compliance inspection should be on verifying compliance with a specific standard. Checklists are useful tools during the conduction of workplace inspection. It is extremely important for any person conducting an inspection with the aid of such a list to use custom made forms to suit the specific area to be inspected.
The biggest failure with regard to inspections based on checklists is that the inspection can only be as objective as the inspection tool allows. This is why special consideration and planning should go into the drafting and use of these types of inspection tools.
Utilization
It is common practice to make use of a general inspection form, questionnaire or checklist to help and ensure that all facets of the inspection have been covered. The use of these forms of assistance should not replace the importance of the inspector's observation and interpretation skills. It should merely be utilized to ensure that all potential at risk conditions and practices have been covered and no potential hazard was missed during the inspection. Using a checklist can help inspectors determine the potential hazards that may be encountered during the inspection. During the preparation for the inspection it can help the inspector to identify what specialised equipment may be needed to effectively measure the hazardous substance that may be encountered. The inspector will also be able to identify special situations that may be encountered during the inspection for which specialist training or guidance may be necessary.
A pre-drafted inspection tool merely assists to simplify inspection tasks, guides inspection activities and provides a handy report format of the outcomes. These forms also allows for easy and instantaneous recording of findings and comments. The danger in using checklists however is, that it can easily result in the inspector becoming so focussed on logging the details on the tool that he can overlook other more significant risks not necessarily on the form.
When completing any form of inspection tool it is important to guard against the use of a tick for yes or a cross for no, as these could be altered easily afterwards. Some of the better types of inspection tools also provide for comments on why the specific item was marked as unacceptable.
Standardized Inspection Tools
There are various types of so called standard inspection assistance tools available. None of the ones available would be hundred percent suitable for as is use. To make them useful it will be necessary to utilize the risk assessment conducted for an area to adjust and adapt the content to a particular area. Some are very simple, just containing a list of items to inspect while others are more complex, with the inclusion of full explanations, weighting for each item and also risk numbers indicating the relevant importance of each item to be inspected. It is no more correct or incorrect to make use of a more complex or a simpler checklist. The most suitable tool for any specific work area will be determined by a number of factors. These include:
- The risk profile of the area
- The knowledge and experience of the inspectors
- The complexity of the processes and procedures in the area
- The maturity of the organization in respect of inspections and audits.
An example of an inspection checklist for an office environment can be found here. The content of this is not exhaustive but merely serves as an example of such an instrument.
It should be noted that these is a vast difference between audits and inspections. During an inspection the management practices are not investigated and hence the ability to use static type tools for inspections.
Hot Spot Inspection Checklist
In some dynamic environments the so called hot spot inspection checklist is utilized very effectively. A hot spot inspection checklist is a basic framework that is constantly adjusted to focus on current health and safety issues and related risk control systems for the area. When new hazards are identified, they are be added to the hot spot checklist.
As soon as it is sure that the risk control system is effective the particular risk that is so controlled can be removed from the hot spot checklist. The hot spot inspection checklist is changed as needed by the risk professional in charge of the site, to ensure that the focus of the inspection teams is on the appropriate hazards.
Conclusion
A number of standardized tools are available, but a separate checklist should be prepared for each work area that will be inspected with the aid of this type of instrument.
When developing these instruments care should be taken to ensure that all the significant hazards that are expected in the area and the associated controls are. The instrument should emphasize physical features to be inspected (e.g. checking machine guards) and also draw attention to the requirement to check that the correct working practices are being followed.
Once the inspector is aware of the general risk areas to focus on by referring to the checklist he should concentrate on item and utilize the training knowledge and experience to establish deviations and non-conformances.
© Carl Marx 2009
Using Checklists For Effective Health and Safety Workplace Inspections