Benefits of Using an EHS Inspection Checklist

There should be no debate about the importance of occupational health and safety in the workplace. It takes on particular importance for companies that operate in the manufacturing and construction industries. In these industries, safety needs to be taken seriously and companies need to be extra thorough in their approach.

Often, this will include inspections and self-audits to make sure that everything is up to par and all safety standards are being met. We can’t recommend enough the importance of using an EHS inspection checklist during these audits. It may not be the most exciting or inventive approach, but it’ll help get the job done. To help prove our point, let’s take a look at some of the top benefits of companies using an EHS inspection checklist to perform workplace audits.

Staying Organized

Perhaps the biggest reason to use an EHS inspection checklist is simply to stay organized during audits. There are so many details, both big and small, that it’s easy for something to be forgotten or overlooked. With a checklist, you’ll know everything that needs to be covered, not to mention when and where during the inspection that you’ll cover it. Not only will it be more difficult to miss something but you’ll ultimately have more efficient audits that will save time and help you get back to being productive following an inspection.

Make Employees Accountable

To a large extent, proper occupational safety is all about making people accountable. That means both employees and the frontlines and company leaders are responsible for keeping themselves and everyone else. With an EHS inspection checklist, there’s no place to hide. If you’re falling short of expectations in some way, it’ll be caught and someone will either be held accountable for missing it or responsible for fixing it. In a way, it makes safety a team effort because everyone will be held accountable for the company’s shortcomings.

Improve Communication

Communication is key in occupational health and safety. A significant number of accidents can be prevented if companies had better communication. Creating an EHS inspection checklist is just one more form of communication. It’s something that will be written down and accessible to everyone in the company. Each employee will know what it says and the items for which they are responsible. This makes it harder for anything to get lost in translation.

Confidence

What company doesn’t want to feel confident that it’s doing everything it can possibly do to keep its workers safe? If you maintain an EHS inspection checklist, you can be confident that all of your bases will be covered. As long as the list is thorough and complete, there will be no question that every important safety item is being addressed. That should give your company a sense of confidence that everything you can possibly do to keep workers safe is being done.

Documenting Compliance

In the event that something goes wrong, having an EHS inspection checklist can be invaluable. If there’s an OSHA investigation over a potential compliance issue, you’ll want documents showing what safety hazards have been inspected so you can show that you’ve taken steps to mitigate safety risks. In these situations, the more documentation you have, the better off you’ll be. Even if your goal is to avoid these situations, having a documented list of your inspection procedures won’t hurt.

The Best Safety Management System

Along with keeping an EHS inspection checklist, one of the best things you can do to address workplace safety is to use safety management software. We have a system that can help to track and monitor all safety hazards, as well as employee training, safety drills, and compliance issues. It will also make it easier to maintain inspection lists and other documents so that your company stays well-organized.

If you think you could benefit from a little outside help when it comes to occupational safety, give us a call and we’ll be glad to help.