Companies should conduct regular safety and health inspections, involving employees and management from all levels.
Why conduct inspections
Regular safety and health inspections can help your company to:
- Uncover safety or health risks.
- Reduce or eliminate the chances of an incident.
- Educate employees on workplace hazards.
- Meet legal requirements for workplace safety and health.
- Improve efficiency, productivity and workplace morale .
Conducting inspections
Safety and health inspections should involve the following:
- Speaking to workers and supervisors about their concerns.
- Understanding the jobs and tasks at your workplace.
- Identifying existing and potential hazards.
- Determining the underlying causes of these hazards.
- Monitoring and evaluating existing hazard controls (e.g., protective equipment, policies and procedures).
- Recommending and implementing corrective action based on the inspection’s findings.
If you discover any safety or health risks, you should take action to promptly eliminate or reduce the chances of a workplace incident.
Who should be involved
Inspections should involve representatives from all levels of the company, not just the middle management and workers.
Resources
You can use the Workplace Safety and Health Council’s checklists to help you comply with the various WSH requirements.