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618 Managing Safety and Health - Construction
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Safety Inspections and Reports

Employees play a key role in identifying, controlling, and reporting hazards that may occur or already exist in your workplace. Safety inspection reports of potential hazards can be an effective tool to trigger a closer look at a piece of equipment, operation, or how work is being performed.

Contractor writing on a clipboard outside of a house being built.
The inspection process is important in identifying hazards.

The only caveat related to safety inspections is that, although, they may be good at uncovering hazardous conditions, they are not so good at uncovering unsafe behaviors. Reports of potential hazards can also provide suggestions to eliminate a hazard.

There are many positive reasons for conducting safety inspections, including:

  • helping ensure compliance with OSHA and meet other legal responsibility
  • involving both management and employees
  • identifying areas of high risk and controlling hazards
  • developing positive attitudes - demonstrating leadership
  • suggesting better methods of doing procedures safely

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

3-9. Safety inspections are better at uncovering hazardous conditions than _____.