The Need And Purpose Of Workplace Inspections

The employer is obliged to provide employees with safe and healthy working conditions.  To know how safe and healthy ,or not, working conditions are, he needs to constantly monitor performance against health and safety standards and procedures as prescribed by law and company policy.

This is achieved by conducting regular safety inspections in the workplace and recording the results thereof.

Other factors to consider:

• As tools and equipment get older they get worn out or damaged. 
• Materials, equipment and procedures constantly change and ignoring such changes can jeopardise people’s health and safety.
• Lack of the necessary skills to perform a certain job can cause injury. Regular safety inspections will help to expose possible training needs.

The purpose of safety inspections:

• To identify potential hazards.
• To establish the cause of injuries, death, occupational diseases, property damage and pollution.
• To record all of the abovementioned information and report to the appropriate authorities in the required format.
• To provide information at meetings where safety, health and environmental protection matters are discussed.
• To make information available for research purposes.
• To assist in the evaluation of the SHE policy and procedures, including the completion of all registers, records, schedules, etc., required by law.

From the information contained in reports of inspections the employer will be able to formulate corrective and/or remedial action.