A safety walk through is a vital component of every safety program. They allow managers and supervisors to evaluate the program, identify any deficiencies, and determine actions and areas that need improvement. A safety walk through of a workplace is essential for maintaining and improving health and safety.

What is a Safety Walk Through?

A safety walk through is when a supervisor or a manager inspects the workplace, observes the work taking place, and discusses safety performance with personnel based on their observations.

It is a visual inspection of a workplace, intending to identify and correct unsafe or potentially hazardous conditions. By conducting regular safety walk-throughs, a safety inspector can effectively identify and prevent safety-related problems, such as accidents or injuries, hazardous material and chemical releases, fire and pest infestations, and others.

The investigation is focused on the real experience of everyday working. It is created to identify daily unsafe practices that can accumulate over time to create serious risks for an entire group of employees. It is also designed to help employees understand safety in actual terms. When you regularly conduct safety walk-throughs, you can provide employees with safe alternatives and ways to know why their previous practices were unsafe. Therefore, they are vital to management because they make safety accessible to the personnel.

On the other hand, safety walk-throughs shouldn't be confused with safety inspections. A safety inspection is an official process of documenting safety hazards and unsafe work practices. Additionally, a safety walk through is not a safety audit, which is assessing the workplace's health and safety procedures to determine compliance and assess weaknesses in a safety program.

Preparation is Half the Battle

To be effective, a safety walk through has a couple of requirements:

1. When performing a safety walk through you should already know the workplace and its previously identified hazards. The point of a safety walk through is to observe the workplace as it looks in an everyday work setting. You can't do this if you are not familiar with the workplace.

2. You need to check the most hazardous areas in the workplace to determine what's going wrong on a daily basis. Check for apparent hazards first, such as tripping hazards, frayed wires, blocked exits, poor housekeeping, and poorly maintained equipment.

3. You should talk to personnel and check their respective workstations.

4. You should never expose yourself to hazards during the inspection.

The best way to address these requirements is to review previous walk-throughs and talk to other members of the safety committee. Walk-throughs can reveal any persistent problems or problematic areas, and safety representatives can point to areas of concern that a safety inspection might overlook.

What is Safety Observation Reporting?

A safety observation report is a tool used by a safety inspector to document hazards and safety commendations in the workplace.

Document the hazards using Observation Reporting tools like The Checker, which allows you to briefly describe the hazard. Share the report with managers, supervisors, and other personnel as a way of showing your commitment to fixing the safety issues found during your inspection. This will help ensure all corrective actions are implemented in a timely fashion.