While it is difficult to know what to say at times like these, our thoughts are with the people affected by the disaster that devastated Japan last week. And while people continue to struggle in the aftermath, we hope for the very best recovery possible for those involved.

As you will know, the last couple of bulletins have been going over health and safety audits and inspections, why they are important in your business, and how to conduct them. Today we discuss how to carry out a workplace inspection.

Regular scheduled health and safety inspections should be carried out by a supervisor or the OHS representative in your workplace.

The person carrying out the inspection should use checklists that have been tailored to your business’s needs. You can either have these checklists drawn up by the supervisor or OHS representative in collaboration with your employees or if your company is larger, you can hire an OHS consultant for professional advice.

It is essential that any inspection carried out in your workplace is well documented.

Documentation of the process is important as you need to monitor the safety procedures that are carried out in your workplace because these records:

• Provide evidence of your proactive approach to managing OHS in your workplace;
• Ensure that management is aware of safety performance in their company;
• Assist with continuous improvement of safety systems;
• Demonstrate your commitment to continuous improvement in health and safety performance;
• Enable more effective performance of health and safety procedures; and
• Ensure that individual managers’ OHS performance can be reviewed and monitored.

Additionally, in light of company directors and managers’ increased responsibility to know how OHS is being managed in their company, the records and documentation of health and safety audits, inspections and reviews provide a means by which they can monitor the safety systems in their company.

Strive for continuous improvement in your safety systems.