Why is inspection important

Tags: why inspect? Topics: why inspect? Topics: safety awareness , workplace safety , legal compliance. Learn how inspections can increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve safety in a systematic way that can be sustained as a competitive advantage. Email: info thechecker. Create an Account. Buy Products. The Checker. These inspections have several specific functions that include: Identifying already existing or potentially hazardous conditions Determining the underlying causes of those hazards Monitoring hazard controls Recommending corrective action that could address each issue at hand Listening to concerns from workers and supervisors Offering a further understanding of jobs and tasks from safety standards.

The following factors usually dictate the frequency of these inspections: National or regional legislation. Inspections and maintenance go hand-in-hand, with regular inspections invariably driving down maintenance costs. Email: info thechecker. Create an Account. Buy Products.

The Checker. Home Why Inspect? The goal is to find any unsafe acts or conditions and implement necessary controls. The workplace can be divided into sections, each with its own inspection person or team. Inspections may also be scheduled daily, weekly, monthly or annually or at other frequencies depending on the nature of the issue, requirements of legislation and the regulations for example, a lift truck must be inspected daily , or as recommended by equipment manufacturers.

You can also use your hazard identification system and incident history to help identify areas that may require more frequent inspections. Search all fact sheets:. Workplace inspections help prevent incidents, injuries and illnesses.

Through a critical examination of the workplace, inspections help to identify and record hazards for corrective action. Health and safety committees can help plan, conduct, report and monitor inspections. Regular workplace inspections are an important part of the overall occupational health and safety program and management system, if present.

Every inspection must examine who, what, where, when and how. Pay particular attention to items that are or are most likely to develop into unsafe or unhealthy conditions because of stress, wear, impact, vibration, heat, corrosion, chemical reaction or misuse.

Include areas where no work is done regularly, such as parking lots, rest areas, office storage areas and locker rooms. Look at all workplace elements — the people, the environment, the equipment and the process. The environment includes such hazards as noise, vibration, lighting, temperature, and ventilation. Equipment includes materials, tools and apparatus for producing a product or a service.

The process involves how the worker interacts with the other elements in a series of tasks or operations. Use drawings of the plant layout or floor plans to help you draw a diagram. Divide the workplace into areas based on the process. Visualize the activities in the workplace and identify the location of machinery, equipment and materials. Show the movement of material and workers, and the location of air ducts, aisles, stairways, alarms and fire exits.

Appendix A shows a sample diagram. Use several simple diagrams if the area is large. Ask workers and supervisors for their comments on the information - they know the area better than anyone else. Know what type of machinery or equipment is present. Review technical data sheets, or manufacturers' safety manuals.

Read work area records to become familiar with the hazards of the equipment. Determine which products are used in the workplace and whether safety data sheets are available. Find out if all sources of exposure are properly controlled. Make sure that all workers have received education and training in how to safely use, handle and store the products they work with. A checklist helps to clarify inspection responsibilities, controls inspection activities and provides a report of inspection activities.

Checklists help with on-the-spot recording of findings and comments but be careful. Do not allow the inspection team to become so intent on noting the details listed in the checklist that it misses other hazardous conditions. Use checklists only as a basic tool.

Refer to the related documents for sample checklists that you can use as a guide to develop a checklist that is customized for your workplace.

Keeping inspection records is important. Past inspection records show what has been previously identified.

They also show what an earlier inspection team concentrated on and what areas it did not inspect. Do not simply repeat or copy previous inspection results. Use the older inspection reports to help look for issues, and then determine whether recommendations were implemented. Note if the changes have been effective.