Workplace inspections help prevent injuries and illnesses. Through critical examination of the workplace, inspections identify and record hazards for corrective action. Joint occupational health and safety committees plan, conduct, report and monitor inspections. Regular workplace inspections are an important part of the overall occupational health and safety program.
As an essential part of a health and safety program, a company should examine the workplace to:
Look at all workplace elements – the environment, the equipment and the process. The environment includes such hazards as noise, vibration, lighting, temperature, and ventilation. Equipment includes materials, tools and apparatus for producing a product or a service. The process involves how the worker interacts with the other elements in a series of tasks or operations.
Types of workplace hazards include:
Inspection records are important. Past inspection records show what has been identified. They also show what an inspection team concentrated on and what areas it did not inspect. The inspection report can draw attention to possible hazards. However, do not simply repeat or copy previous inspections. Use the inspection report to determine whether previous recommendations were implemented.
The following describes three other types of inspection reports:
Supervisors and workers continually conduct ongoing inspections as part of their job responsibilities. Such inspections identify hazardous conditions and either correct them immediately or report them for corrective action. The frequency of these inspections varies with the amount and conditions of equipment use. Daily checks by users assure that the equipment meets minimum acceptable safety requirements.
Pre-operation checks involve inspections of new or modified equipment or processes. Often these are done after workplace shutdowns.
Periodic inspections are regular, planned inspections of the critical components of equipment or systems that have a high potential for causing serious injury or illness. The inspections are often part of preventive maintenance procedures or hazard control programs. The law specifies that qualified persons periodically inspect some types of equipment, such as elevators, boilers, pressure vessels, and fire extinguishers, at regular intervals.
The health and safety committee should review the progress of the recommendations, especially when they pertain to the education and training of employees. It is also the committee’s responsibility to study the information from regular inspections. This will help in identifying trends for the maintenance of an effective health and safety program.
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Spot inspections by HSE to ensure workplaces are Covid-secure
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is currently carrying out spot inspections in cities and towns where there are coronavirus outbreaks, to check that businesses are Covid-secure.
An inspection process involves checking that businesses are aware of the guidance, and advising where necessary on improvements needed to ensure the workplace is Covid-secure. Most recently, HSE conducted spot inspections on businesses in Bradford.
Working with other public local and national government authorities, inspectors are currently out and about visiting businesses, putting employers on the spot and checking that they are complying with the latest guidance.
Here are some practical steps that businesses can take to be Covid-secure before spot inspections are carried out by the HSE to ensure workplaces are Covid-secure:
HSE has been utilising a number of different ways to gather intelligence and reach out to businesses with a combination of site visits, phone calls and through collection of supporting visual evidence.
Some of the most common issues that HSE and local authority inspectors are finding, across the country, include failing to:
You have an absolute legal duty to monitor, maintain and review all matters and arrangements of health and safety. By adhering to the Audit requirement and process an Organisation will be able to demonstrate that health and safety is pro-actively managed in accordance with legislative, Insurers and Fire Department requirements.
An Audit will also act as a suitable defence in a court of law, should either Civil or Criminal proceedings be instigated.
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Keep Safe!
You must only make a report under RIDDOR (The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013) when:
• an unintended incident at work has led to someone’s possible or actual exposure to coronavirus. This must be reported as a dangerous occurrence.
• a worker has been diagnosed as having COVID 19 and there is reasonable evidence that it was caused by exposure at work. This must be reported as a case of disease.
• a worker dies as a result of occupational exposure to coronavirus.
Dangerous occurrences
Read about RIDDOR 1
If something happens at work which results in (or could result in) the release or escape of coronavirus you must report this as a dangerous occurrence. An example of a dangerous occurrence would be a lab worker accidentally smashing a glass vial containing coronavirus, leading to people being exposed.
Cases of disease: exposure to a biological agent
Read about RIDDOR 2
If there is reasonable evidence that someone diagnosed with COVID-19 was likely exposed because of their work you must report this as an exposure to a biological agent using the case of disease report. An example of a work-related exposure to coronavirus would be a health care professional who is diagnosed with COVID-19 after treating patients with COVID-19.
Read about RIDDOR 3
If someone dies as a result of a work-related exposure to coronavirus and this is confirmed as the likely cause of death by a registered medical practitioner, then you must report this as a death due to exposure to a biological agent using the ‘case of disease’ report form. You must report workplace fatalities to HSE by the quickest practicable means without delay and send a report of that fatality within 10 days of the incident.
Find out more about reporting incidents 4
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The short answer is “because it’s every employer’s duty”. Being an employer is about much more than just obeying the letter of the law. You also want to make your workforce is as productive as possible and you need to attract talented people by being a good place to work.
The bottom line is that employers have a legal obligation to manage health and safety in the workplace. That means controlling risk. Risks can only be controlled once they have been identified and quantified.
That’s why it’s the responsibility of every employer to conduct a health and safety risk assessment. Defining the hazards present in the workplace so that action can be taken to manage them.
The law is crystal clear on this point. Businesses with five or more employees must not only conduct a risk assessment, but also record the findings in a written report. This information must be shared with employees carrying out the tasks that have been assessed, including those that may work in the same area.
Organisations with fewer than five employees are still required to assess the risks in the workplace. There’s no obligation to write the results down, but there’s a strong case for doing it anyway. Creating a written report clarifies matters, focuses minds and makes it much easier to update the assessment when things change, for example, if there is a new process or new equipment is introduced.
If you are confident you understand the risks in your workplace, you can conduct your own workplace risk assessment, however if you’re in any doubt about any aspect of the assessment or the level of risk, it’s wise to call in the experts. Conducting expert risk assessments is a key aspect of the service available from Walker Health and Safety Services Limited.
Before deciding whether you need expert advice, consider the worst-case scenario. Imagine finding yourself in court because of a Health and Safety incident in your workplace. That’s when an inaccurate or incomplete risk assessment can cost you a big fine, and perhaps even close the business down.
If you need to conduct a risk assessment or are not sure the one you have in place is fit for purpose, don’t hesitate to contact Walker Health and Safety Services Limited for advice.
The HSE inspect businesses that are working in high-risk industries. So, if your organisation is high risk and has not had a visit for a while, don’t be surprised if an HSE inspector wants to look around. This may be a random inspection but is more likely to be due to a previous incident, an issue raised by a worker, or a report of a serious injury on site.
The inspectors want to check that employers are keeping their staff, customers and members of the public safe. They also review if work activities are being carried out in line with statutory requirements. The inspector will ask about the health and safety issues affecting the business and what is being done to reduce risk. They may want to look around the site and inspect aspects of work being done, too. If they are investigating an incident, the inspector will want you to describe what happened and what processes you had in place. They’ll look at your accident investigation report and any CCTV or photographs that may have been taken. They’ll also speak to your staff or read their witness statements.
Immediately after the visit, the inspector might offer the organisation written or verbal advice on how to improve safety at work. Or they could issue a notification of contravention, which means that there has been a breach of health and safety law. The inspector may then issue an improvement notice. This gives the organisation at least 21 days to correct the issue.
For more serious offences, an inspector may issue a prohibition notice. This forces the organisation to stop any activities deemed dangerous immediately. The inspector can also seize items, substances and equipment as evidence.
Finally, the inspector can prosecute the organisation and/or its directors. This could lead to a court appearance, a fine or even a prison sentence.
If the inspector issues a notice of contravention, the organisation will have to pay the HSE’s expenses for the investigation. This is called a fee for intervention (FFI). FFI is an hourly charge of £154. FFI also applies if the HSE issues a notice of improvement or prohibition.
The fines for prosecution depend on the offence committed. For example, in 2018 the average fine for breaches of the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 was £846,250.
Of course, the total impact on a business can be much greater. An improvement notice can force an organisation to make high-cost changes in a short space of time. A prohibition notice can shut the business down or lead to disqualification of being a director for a set period of time.
Even minor breaches have lasting damage. The HSE will register an enforcement notice against the business for 10 years. This can make it hard to get work with new clients and almost impossible to bid for public sector contracts.
As always, prevention is better than the cure. Ensure that you are aware of the legal requirements on your business and that you have procedures for improving, monitoring and reviewing your compliance status.
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