Worksite Safety Inspections:
Serious Business
Barbara Semeniuk
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Introduction
What is an inspection?
 Types of Inspections?
 The Role of the Health and Safety
Committee, Supervisors, Workers and
Management in Inspections.
 Planning an inspection.
 How to conduct Inspections.
 How to write the inspection report and
time-lines.
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What is an Inspection?
An inspection is part of workplace
monitoring
 It checks for substandard acts and
conditions
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 It checks the PEPME: people,
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environment, physical conditions,
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machinery/materials and
equipment.
 It is not an audit although
Text inspections
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audits are often used interchangeably
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 An audit is an examination of the whole
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Types of Inspections
Informal
 formal

– Regular
– Intermittent
– Surprise
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Informal Inspections
Performed everyday: checking the
worksites for hazards prior to beginning
work
 Walking around by Management,
Supervisors, Workers to check/monitor
conditions informally (not written down,
but noted).
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Formal Inspections
May be legislated ie. Health and Safety
Committee conduct monthly inspections
and/or weekly depending on the scope of
work and the degree of hazards and the
timelines to conduct the work.
 This is an example of regular inspections.
 Intermittent inspections can be conducted
periodically with no defined timelines so
people cannot prepare also known as
surprise inspections
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Planning an Inspection
Determine what you wish to inspect with
your team
 Who will be on the team
 Why you wish to inspect
 When you wish to inspect
 How you will go about it ie. How to
rate/rank hazards, what checklist to use
and/or if you have to create one
 How it fits into the big picture
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Conducting the Inspection
Barb to give relaxation exercise to get in
the mood
 Wear the necessary PPE: set a good
example
 Do not operate equipment you are not
competent to do so
 Inform the Supervisor of the area if this is
a regular inspection, keep management
informed if this is a surprise inspection and
be sure you are aware of the Health and 13/04/20158

Writing the Inspection report
Keep it simple the KISS principle
 Rank the worst hazards first
 Create an action plan
 Assign people responsible for corrective
actions and do not always use the
maintenance person: spread the love
 Record the implementation date of the
corrective actions
 Assign a follow up person to check that
these have been done
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Effective Implementation Of
Inspections
Always be thinking: lean manufacturings
the 5 WHY’s
 Why are employees doing unsafe acts
 Why do unsafe conditions exist
 Why, why, why? What are the underlying
conditions behind the behaviour?
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Case Studies
Think of the roles you play as a Health and
Safety Practitioner in an Inspection. Are
you one of the following?
 Pair of hands: you readily do the work,
management is hands off its in your job
description, you do it
 Expert: You are the go to person the
person who knows all. You conduct the
inspection and do not involve many people
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because they slow down the process
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
Case Study: See Where you fit
and what you would do

You are a Health and Safety Coordinator
for a Company that operates in BC and
Alberta. Like me you live in the province
where there are no rats unlike BC.
(probably because no self respecting rat
would want to live in Alberta) (I’m from
BC originally, how can you guess eh?)

In Alberta. there is an office building that
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is 30 stories high. You have been asked to 13/04/2015
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Effective Implementation of
Inspections
The three E’s of Safety: Expect, Exhibit
and Emphasize
 Assign someone responsible for inspection
planning and implementation (clear
expectations)
 Keep management and the workers
informed
 Involve all levels of employees so
management and workers buy into the
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program (exhibit)
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
Effective Inspections
These are collaborative
 Involve all levels of employees
 Are planned out: Stephen Covey “sharpen
the saw”
 People are held accountable
 Are measured and tracked
 Prevent incidents before they happen
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Purcell Enterprises Ltd.
firstbesafe@shaw.ca
 Questions: 780-951-0867
 Safety matters….because you matter.

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