Health And Safety Monitoring – Why It’s Critical

Why Health and Safety Monitoring Is Necessary

Health and safety monitoring is critical because your business is undergoing constant change.

New machinery and tools, new systems, new approaches to tasks and new workers all impact health and safety in many ways.

When these changes impact your cost structure, you’ll almost certainly go to your accounting software and update it accordingly. However, this is not usually the case with Health and Safety systems which are often at the bottom of the update list.

You Are Vulnerable!

If this is you then, unfortunately, you are vulnerable!
Should there be an incident at your workplace, especially if an injury results, you’re in all sorts of trouble.
Health and safety investigators, prosecutors and legal counsel for injured workers will all be on your case. They’ll be looking for one thing. Were your systems and procedures up to date and relevant to the task or activity?

Health and safety systems need monitoring and changing to avoid rendering them useless. This can be tricky, time-consuming and expensive if you don’t have a simple way to manage your system. Health and safety monitoring is essential for many reasons;

• Shows intent on taking your duty of care seriously
• Highlights weak points in the system that could lead to accidents
• Alerts to practices that need addressing.
• Helps keep worker buy-in, especially when including workers in the process rather than “spying”.
• Keeps servicing and maintenance of machinery, plant, tools and equipment current
• Most of all it shows proof that a business has relevant up to date systems like;
  • Risk Assessments
  • Safe Operating and Emergency Procedures
  • Safe Work Method Statements
  • Method of Auditing
  • Hazard Management
  • Incident and Injury Management
  • Training and Training Revision and Verification of Competency
  • Safety and Toolbox Meeting Management
  • Register Management – Assets (equipment, plant, machinery and tools), Jobs, Chemicals, Workers
  • Reminders of Issues to Action

This type of health and safety monitoring could well save you from huge fines, penalties and massive mental stress. And it need not be hard to do!

More Than A Quick Walk Around

Health and safety monitoring involves a little more than just a walk around. However, it can be quite easy by;

• Feedback from informal chats with your workers
• Regular audits
• Meetings that decide on reviews, recommendations, corrections and improvements

Simple Worksafe has a range of monitoring tools.

Audits

Monitoring of processes and procedures with Simple Worksafe’s auditing system. You can create an unlimited number of templates and with the click of  a button they’re ready to audit virtually anything,

Where an audit item fails the actions to fix it can be assigned to a person and tracked until completion.
There is a digital sign off for the auditor carrying out each audit.

Certification or Verification Of Competency (VOCs)

Certifications of any kind can attach to each worker’s record, and reminders display when due for revision.
Some jobs or training courses require the Verification of Competency (VOC) of a worker.  Manage the tracking and signing of VOCs along with training revisions.

Service/Maintenance

Track and manage the servicing of assets (plant, equipment and machinery) and locations (buildings etc.,).

To be effective, health and safety monitoring need voluntary worker “buy-in”. It should never take on the form of spying or trying to catch out somebody doing wrong. This method will only generate a “them and us” culture that will do no good for any party involved.
Good health and safety system management is a team effort and will fail miserably if this isn’t the case.

Look at Simple WorkSafe Auditing wizard for an affordable option.