Workplace inspections
Workplace inspections are key to managing risks and preventing unsafe working conditions from developing. As part of a proactive injury-prevention process, inspections are opportunities for you to monitor how well your risk controls are working and whether they need to be changed.
- Responsibilities
- Types of inspections
- Frequency of workplace inspections
- Conducting a workplace inspection
- After the inspection
- Resources
Responsibilities
Everyone in the workplace has a role to play in inspections:
- As an employer, you are responsible for ensuring that inspections are conducted frequently enough to prevent unsafe working conditions from developing. This could be monthly, weekly, or more often, depending on the level of risk and types of work activities in the area being inspected. Employers are also responsible for training workers to perform inspections required as part of their work.
- Supervisors take on responsibility for the safety of those workers under their supervision, which includes inspecting the work processes, facilities, and equipment for those workers. This can be as part of regularly scheduled workplace inspections, daily supervisory walk-throughs, or both.
- Workers who operate equipment are responsible for conducting pre-use inspections of that equipment. Workers can also play a key role in other types of workplace inspections in relation to their work.
- Joint health and safety committee members or the worker health and safety representative must, where feasible, participate in regular workplace inspections as well as any special inspections after a malfunction or incident. If your workplace does not have a joint committee or workplace health and safety representative, employers must invite workers to designate a worker to participate in inspections.
- Prime contractors at multiple-employer worksites are responsible for ensuring site-wide health and safety compliance. This includes ensuring that inspections are taking place as required.
Types of inspections
The following table outlines the types of inspections required under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.
| Regular, planned workplace inspections |
These inspections include looking at buildings, structures, grounds, excavations, tools, equipment, machinery, and work practices to identify hazards that could cause injury or disease. The specifics of these inspections will depend on the nature of your workplace but could include a focus on any or all of the following:
See Identifying hazards for more information about creating a hazard list and how to assess and control the risks. |
| Pre-work inspections |
Many sections of the OHS Regulation outline requirements for pre-work or pre-shift inspections and safety checks of tools, equipment, and work processes. Employers are responsible for knowing which inspections are required, training workers on when and how to conduct and document these inspections, and confirming that inspections are taking place. In addition, operators of equipment must conduct a pre-operational (pre-startup) inspection of that equipment. The requirements of these inspections are usually detailed in the manufacturer’s instructions, a standard (such as from the Canadian Standards Association — CSA), and/or the OHS Regulation and OHS Guidelines. |
| Special inspections | A special inspection is required after a malfunction or incident before work is allowed to continue. |
The OHS Regulation has additional inspection requirements related to specific types of tools, equipment, materials, and work processes.
Frequency of workplace inspections
The OHS Regulation states that workplace inspections need to be done often enough to “prevent the development of unsafe working conditions.” What this means for your workplace depends on the nature of your workplace and the work being done. Monthly inspections are common for many workplaces but may not be frequent enough in environments with a higher level of risk and/or where conditions change regularly.
Keep clear records of your inspections to help you monitor how well your risk controls are working to prevent unsafe conditions. Based on this information, you may see that you need to conduct more frequent inspections of some work areas or processes.
In addition, as outlined in the previous section, inspections of certain types of tools, equipment, materials, and processes must take place before each shift or use.
Conducting a workplace inspection
The purpose of workplace inspections is to identify unsafe conditions and activities that may cause injury or illness so you can take corrective measures. The following guidelines apply to most workplaces:
- Determine who will be conducting the inspection. Depending on the focus of the inspection, this could include supervisors, workers familiar with the job tasks, and members of the joint health and safety committee or the worker health and safety representative. Whenever possible, the inspection team should include people familiar with the job tasks, equipment, and area being inspected.
- Decide how you will document your inspection to make sure it is thorough and consistent with previous inspections. You may decide to use a checklist for this, but if you do, be sure it is specific to the work area, equipment, or process es you are inspecting.
- Ask yourself what hazards are associated with the work that you are observing or that would be performed in that work area.
- Focus on controls you have implemented and check to see if they are effective at managing risks.
- Observe how workers perform tasks. Do they follow safe work procedures? Are they using personal protective equipment correctly?
- Talk to workers about what they’re doing and how they perform their tasks. Ask them about concerns they may have about health and safety.
- Refer to your records from previous inspections and verify that problems identified earlier have been resolved.
- Record any unsafe conditions or actions that you observe.
You may wish to conduct separate inspections to look at specific hazards in different areas of the workplace, or to focus on different work tasks or elements of your health and safety program (e.g., violence prevention, materials handling, confined space entry). Ensure all work shifts are covered by your inspections, as well as tasks such as maintenance.
If your inspection reveals a problem, try to get to the root of it. For example, if you see a wet floor, ask why. Possible explanations could include a water leak, a job process that’s creating spills, or a lack of training on how to clean up the hazard. Talking to workers about causes and solutions will make it less likely the problem occurs again.
After the inspection
- Remedy serious hazards or unsafe work practices immediately. For example, if you find that a ladder has a loose or damaged rung, immediately remove the ladder from service and repair or replace it.
- Prioritize other, less serious hazards and assign someone to remedy each one.
- Make a schedule for any actions that will take more time to complete (for example, purchasing new equipment, repairing facilities, implementing a new training program).
- Communicate inspection findings to workers.
- Ensure that the joint committee has access to, and reviews, the inspection reports.
- Keep clear records of your inspections and the remedies you implement. This will help you show your due diligence. It will also help you to monitor whether your risk controls are working to reduce incidents and injuries or if you need to make changes to your risk inventory or the frequency of your inspections.
Resources
Creating a Key Risk Inventory for Your Workplace: Engaging Your Workers to Help Manage Risks
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Managing risks in manufacturing workplaces: Evaluating your safety management system — Conducting inspections
The questions in this tool are designed to help you evaluate the components of your safety management system. It is provided in a fillable Word document for you to download and document the results...
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Health Care Violence Inspection Checklist
This guide is intended to make employers aware of the parts of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation that prevention officers will be focusing on as part of the Health Care Planned Inspectional...