Creating a safe working environment is vital for the success of your company – not just to protect employee well-being, but also to improve quality and productivity. Take a proactive approach to improving safety on-site by conducting regular safety inspections. This can help to identify hazards, eliminate risks, and cement the kind of safety behaviors that underpin a sustainable, successful business.
what is a safety walk?
A safety walk, also known as a safety round, is a visual inspection of the workplace designed to identify unsafe conditions and spot potential hazards. During the tour, you should explore the equipment, conditions, safety measures and employee behaviors in a designated area.
This process often provides a new perspective on safety protocols, as well as helping to break routines and habits where we have become blind to risks in our everyday work. Safety tours are therefore an effective tool to increase safety awareness. Regular walks contribute to behavioral-based safety (BBS) in the workplace and done well, can strengthen the safety culture of your organization.
In order to get the most value from your inspections, here are 5 tips to help make every safety walk more effective.
1. define the area
Make sure to define the area prior to the safety walk. If the area is too large or has too many stops, people’s attention may start to waiver. If it seems like there are too many stops, divide the safety walk into two, or more, rounds so people can maintain focus for the duration of the tour. One tip here is to do a test run beforehand to make sure that the length feels appropriate and works well for what you have planned to discuss. In addition, keep in mind that if the attendees have many questions it might take longer than your initial plan.
2. use predefined questions
It’s a good idea to use a form with pre-defined questions, so those on the walk know what to look out for during the tour. This leaves less room for error and ensures that important details are not missed. Without this structure, human factors can easily degrade the quality of a safety walk whereby some elements don’t receive the attention they require.
3. use tools to add observations during your safety walk
Using digital tools to easily record and report observations or incidents during your walk is highly recommended. Recording issues in the moment reduces the risk of details being forgotten compared to waiting until after your round to report any observations. Accurate records also facilitate follow-up work after the safety round, as observations are documented clearly and are easily accessible.
4. invite new participants to each safety walk
It is important that everyone in the workplace is aware of the type of safety measures in place and any hazards they should notice. Inviting employees to participate in a safety walk increases safety awareness, which is positive. Try to include all employees to keep them informed of key safety aspects and potential risks. Make sure to include long-term employees as well as newcomers since a fresh pair of eyes may see things differently, or make suggestions for precautions that were not previously established.
5. develop an annual plan for your safety walks
With a full agenda, it is easy to forget about running regular safety walks, so it’s a good idea to develop an annual plan, scheduling them regularly. Using an online EHS management solution, such as the AMCS platform, lets you send automated reminders for all participants. This reduces the risk of forgetting to organize safety walks, or people forgetting to attend!