Every company is obliged to provide a sense of security for its workers by providing a safe, comfortable, and healthy workplace. However, providing facilities alone is not enough, regular safety inspections need to be carried out to ensure a culture of safe business practices and awareness.
Then, what is meant by safety inspection? Let’s learn more about safety inspection, its importance, and things to consider before conducting a safety inspection!
Simply put, safety inspection is an effective method conducted by companies to ensure the safety of the workplace, minimize accidents at work, and increase awareness of work safety.
Conducting inspections can warn employees of existing hazards. It is also an integral part of a company's overall safety, emergency and disaster management plan. In addition, indirectly, safety inspections also ensure the sustainability of the company.
According to OSHA Training Institute Education Center, in carrying out a safety inspection, here are four essential things to pay attention to:
Self-inspection for health and safety hazards is the main step in conducting a safety inspection. This stage involves asking yourself and your employees directly where a potential hazard exists and how best to deal with it.
To ensure that safety inspections are carried out properly and that no one is left behind, you need to note what things need to be checked in a safety inspection. For example, you can start with buildings, yards, internal structures, machinery, electricity, air vents, etc. After that, make an action list if you see a potential risk at a certain location or tool.
The next thing to pay attention to is emergency gear and apparatus. You should note locations where all employees can find first-aid kits, emergency wash stations, fire extinguishers, alarms, and personal safety gear. This will make it easier for you to ensure sufficient inventory to accommodate your facility and number of employees.
Making emergency information such as building maps, maps of floor layouts with exit points, emergency telephone numbers, and work safety procedures is a step that should not be missed. Make sure that emergency information boards or posters are available at your company. This will make your employees always remember the importance of work safety.
Performing safety inspections can be time-consuming. However, do not delay this important effort to ensure the work safety for your employees. If you're new to this, you can take advantage of a digital checklist like Nimbly to simplify the safety inspection process and make sure that nothing is left.