Be sure your company conducts regular hazard identification inspections

Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards require frequent safety hazard inspections, and studies have shown inspections reduce incidents and injuries, according to ConstructioNext.

However, it goes beyond identifying hazards; regardless of OSHA enforcement efforts, companies always should prioritize identifying hazards early and implementing corrective actions to ensure safety.

ConstructioNext shares the following three ways to ensure your company’s in-house hazard inspections are highly effective.

1. Create and maintain a regular schedule for hazard identification inspections. Conduct inspections on a regular schedule that works well for your company—it could be daily, weekly, monthly, or even on a shift or per-use schedule. Establish a routine that works for your business and creates a strong case for compliance in case of an OSHA inspection.
2. Involve employees from various levels of the business. An on-site supervisor typically would conduct these inspections, but it should be done as a team, including craft workers, supervisors and other stakeholders. Everyone will offer a different perspective. OSHA encourages involving employees with different roles on the job to make it easier to identify hazards created by other trades that could affect other workers and require reporting and remediation.
3. Create a plan for correcting potential hazards in a timely, organized manner. Employers must correct potential hazards in a timely manner and track the findings. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Hierarchy of Controls, there are five levels of actions to reduce or remove hazards: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls and personal protective equipment. Employers first should work to implement solutions that eliminate the hazards.

NRCA’s classes, webinars and products offer information to ensure you can keep your employees safe on job sites. For more information, visit NRCA’s bookstore and course catalog or contact Rich Trewyn, NRCA’s director of risk education and training, at (847) 493-7575 or rtrewyn@nrca.net.