29May, 2017
Inspection Checklists & The Safety Inspection’s Flaw

Use the following steps if you are asked to write questions for a safety inspection.

  • Determine the area to be inspected.
  • Ask workers in the area what tasks/jobs they do.
  • Ask them to send you a copy of applicable rules.
  • When you receive the rules (don’t panic) read through the applicable sections and mark those rules that you feel might result in serious injury if violated.
  • Change each marked rule into a simple question. Questions will start with the words: Do, does, is, are.
  • Construct your checklist using the questions you have developed.
  • Show your boss. He or she will be surprised! (You will probably become a safety director!)

By its very nature, the walk-around inspection, as a process, suffers from a very serious flaw. It is ineffective in uncovering unsafe behaviors because most inspectors look primarily at hazardous conditions and do not take enough time to effectively analyze individual task procedures. Sometimes the inspectors walk into an area, look up, look down, look all around, and possibly ask a few questions, and move on to the next work area. In fact, the safety inspection may be effective in uncovering only a small percentage of the causes for workplace accidents because the process only looks for conditions. Think about it: isn’t it possible to inspect a workplace on a Monday, and then experience a fatality on Tuesday as a result of an unsafe work behavior that the inspection failed to uncover the day before? You bet it is.

How to overcome the weakness of walk-around inspection? it is using Job Hazard Analysis!

The Job Hazard Analysis (JHA)

The Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) can answer weaknesses of the walk-around inspection process. It uncovers unsafe work practices as well as hazardous conditions because sufficient time is given to close analysis of one unique task at a time. A typical JHA uses the following steps:

  1. While the employee accomplishes several cycles of the task, the supervisor or other person observes and takes notes about what’s being done.
  2. Once the observation is completed, the analysts divide the task into a number of unique steps which are listed sequentially.
  3. Next, each step is analyzed to uncover hazardous materials, equipment, tools, and unsafe exposures are involved.
  4. Next, the hazards and exposures of each step are analyzed to determine the safety precautions required to eliminate or at least reduce any hazards or exposures present. This might include the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), using new or redesigned equipment, or changing the procedure itself.
  5. Finally, a written safe work procedure (SJP) is developed for the entire task. The SJP is reviewed prior to accomplishing the task and it can also be used as a lesson plan to conduct training.
 (Source: OSHAcademy)