Workplace inspections are essential for maintaining excellent health and safety practices, and are a great opportunity to identify, assess, and record hazards posed by equipment, machinery, environment, and processes. From there, corrective actions can be planned, implemented, and monitored where appropriate, and the effectiveness of existing hazard controls can be assessed. OHS/OHSA inspections often occur without notice, and workplaces should always be prepared
Current inspection blitzes are targeting high risk areas in the construction, manufacturing, mining, and health care sectors. No matter your industry, standards are becoming increasingly stringent, and the fines and penalties associated with safety and compliance infractions are rising. Staying on top of safety and compliance regulations is essential in maintaining productivity, quality, and most importantly, workplace safety. If unprepared, organizations can receive significant penalties and bad publicity as a result of a violation related to a workplace inspection.
Preparing For Inspections
Being prepared for a workplace inspection requires a long-term commitment to occupational health and safety, but businesses that maintain excellent safety and compliance practices can reduce the potential for occupational injuries and illnesses and the direct and indirect costs associated with them. With sufficient preparation the inspection process can proceed smoothly and positively for your company and the inspector involved.
Worksites should have an established procedure to follow in the event of an inspection. A specific employee, ideally a member of the safety committee, should serve as a point of contact, and be responsible for escorting the inspector around the worksite. This employee should be knowledgeable about things such as the type of work performed, number of employees, and the location of accurate documents and records. Depending on the type of work performed at your worksite, the inspector may also need to be provided with safety gear (PPE) before you walk the inspector around the worksite.
Risk evaluation, analysis and control processes can be complex and daunting. Establishing a solid framework for risk assessment is imperative to identify threats and opportunities to remain competitive in this rapidly changing global landscape. As a leading safety and compliance solution, ITRAK is positioned to assist businesses prepare their workplaces for inspections by:
● Analyzing findings to identify vulnerabilities
● Assigning corrective actions to parties with timelines
● Identifying and tracking trends and deficiencies/non-conformances with visual support by photos
● Creating notifications for scheduled inspections to accountable party
Tracking Corrective Actions
After completing their inspection, the inspector will disclose the hazards that they found during their inspection. Where appropriate, citations may be issued, and the inspector may follow up later on to track corrective actions.
Once identified, hazardous conditions or deficiencies must be either corrected immediately or reported for corrective action. Effectively managing corrective actions can be arduous and time-consuming, and ITRAK can help streamline the process.
● Close the loop with correction items within the system. Full management
● Customizable notifications to key stakeholders
● Assuring you get the work done as per core certification or ISO specifications
● Increases the likelihood of achieving objectives
● Analysis of effectiveness of corrective actions and preventive actions
Does your business have the right technology in place to survive and excel at workplace inspections?
ITRAK QHSE Software – Built for Today’s Innovative Businesses
ITRAK is the leading Safety and Compliance software solution for the Microsoft Cloud. It allows organizations of any size, to customize the software to their ever-changing workflows, enabling them to be more agile and responsive to operational risks. ITRAK QHSE software can be implemented within any organization small or large, and through a wide variety of industries across the globe. For over a decade, ITRAK has been enabling businesses from various industries to become more proactive with their safety compliance & reporting processes. We support an established base of customers worldwide in Oil and Gas, Mining, Utilities, Forestry, Transportation and many more.
If you’re interested in learning more about how ITRAK can help your organization, please visit http://www.useitrak.com/
