The goal of every safety management system should always be continuous improvement. We have all been doing site, quality control and equipment inspections for ages. Sometimes our inspection program achieves the desired goal. Sometimes it feels like we are standing still…. Incidents keep reoccurring and repairs are not completed. So how do we ensure that our inspection hit the mark? How can we be sure that our inspections are a strong link in our Safety Program?
There are three areas that strengthen the success of inspections.
We want each step in the inspection process to be comprehensive and user-friendly. If one is missing or incomplete it affects the others. Look at your inspection as a three-part cycle.
The biggest obstacle in this cycle is the inspection form which is top-heavy with detail and content. Essentially, looking at everything but not really looking at anything!
Make sure the size of the inspection form isn’t so daunting that it is just “pencil whipped” or never completed. Short, focused and meaningful is the KEY!
We have all thought, “who wrote this thing?” when looking at a workplace inspection!
How are we supposed to check the 300 items listed on our 10-page inspection document?
I remember thinking this on multiple management walk-throughs.
Starting the management inspection with a 15-minute meeting just so everyone can hear all the items that they need to look for on the inspection is not an effective way to work.
By the time the inspection starts half the things you need to look for have been forgotten.
In the end, your inspection just turns into a hazard hunt.
This is followed by a debrief meeting where another 20-30 minutes is spent writing down all the different hazards people found.
The same goes for having a long list of items you can systematically move through for a piece of equipment. It is a great idea but it doesn't work very well when you are walking through a site
So how can your team create a meaningful and efficient safety inspection program that will protect your workers and grow your safety culture?
Simply, DECLUTTER!
Separate your lengthy site inspections ( shop, office, yard, job site, etc) and break out forms for each area of concern. Will you be addressing fire safety, ergonomics, traffic flow, stair and entrance safety, etc? Build shorter, more focused inspections to be done frequently.
In this case, bigger is NOT better!
“Declutter” your light vehicle and other equipment inspections to make them more user-friendly. (And user-friendly = user completion!)
Rework your equipment inspections so that the worker completing the inspection can fill out each section in easy succession. Reduce the size of your checklists by grouping operating systems, required documents or safety supplies.
Watch this video to learn how to create short, focused, and meaningful inspections that will give your company the results you need.
Remember the goal of continuous improvement! In an earlier blog How to Development Equipment Inspections in 5 Easy Steps!, we looked at the steps below and how each step was important to the inspection process.
Now let's think about Focus! How to get it and how to keep it during an inspection. Here are the KEYS!
Once you have your focused inspection program running the next step is to manage the corrective actions.
This is extremely time-consuming when you have to update excel spreadsheets, send emails, and track proof of completion. It is doable, but lots of work.
At Safety Evolution, we are all about removing your “Pain Point” and ensuring that your inspection cycle works seamlessly.
Most inspection programs struggle with corrective action follow-up.
The next challenge is ensuring that the inspections have been completed when they are supposed to.
You are consistently chasing team members to make sure that the inspection has been completed.
When we built the Safety Evolution software we had to deal with the same things and we spent a long time designing how Safety Professionals would want to solve these frustrations.
Jump on our Demo on Demand to see how easy inspections, action items, and scheduling these activities can be.
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