Conducting Effective Health & Safety Inspections

It’s essential for your business to conduct risk assessments in and around your premises. This can help to reduce the possibility of serious injury to an employee.

But you should also look to carry out regular inspections around your business.

Failure to do so can lead to preventable accidents, which can result in costly civil claims, large fines, and damage to your business’ reputation.

It’s important to get them right—you can speak to us on 0800 028 2420 for assistance with your Health & Safety inspections.

Read on for insights into the procedures and laws you need to follow.

What is a Health & Safety inspection?

It’s a general examination of the workplace situation at a specific point in time.

It generally means a scheduled inspection of a workplace or part of a workplace. While the principal objective is to identify hazards and assess the risks, this form of monitoring may also examine:

• Maintenance standards.
• Working practices.
• Environmental conditions.
• Compliance with written safety procedures.

When carrying out an inspection, having a checklist available helps on reporting whether some workplace Health & Safety practices are in operation across your business.

Health & Safety Executive is responsible for encouraging, regulating, and enforcing workplace standards. It’s an English government agency.

There are different types of inspections. These are:

• Safety tours: General inspections around your business.
• Sampling: Systematic checks of dangerous activities.
• Surveys: Inspections of dangerous activities.
• Incident inspections: In the event of a serious accident at work that has led to a death, injury, or a near miss. 
• Statutory Inspections. Expected to be carried out every 6/12 months depending on the equipment.

How often should Health & Safety inspections be carried out?

It’s good business practice to carry one out once every three months. But, in general, the greater the risk, the more frequent the inspections should be.

The more frequently you carry out a check, the higher your chance of identifying potential problems in your working environment. Your business should look to:

• Plan a programme of inspections to maintain high standards.
• Agree on the number of representatives that take part in an inspection.
• Co-ordinate inspections to avoid duplicates.
• Inspect with the representatives, if it will assist the partnership.
• Consult specialists as and when you require to.
• Break down tasks to make the inspection manageable.

For a health & safety inspection for employers, regular health & safety inspections are important as even small changes in the working environment can create new hazards.  Always make sure you keep a record of inspection.

The representative should complete an inspection report during their checks, which includes filling out a checklist. That helps to minimise the risks and hazards.

But can you get an HSE to inspect your workplace? Yes, you can request an executive to check your working environment.

Or you can turn to our Health & Safety consultancy, which provides 27/4 support.

Health & Safety inspection form template

It’s important to have a form available in your records. A Health & Safety inspection checklist for workplaces in the UK will consist of various parts.

You can also follow the below checklist to ensure you meet the essential points.

Here’s a Health & Safety inspection checklist template. You should look to include the following:

• The name of the inspector, along with the column to indicate date and a symbol for whether a check was satisfactory—or not.
• Sections to detail the location and condition of each area open to checks.

It also includes individual sections to identify the areas of your workplace you need to check. These are:

• Bulletin boards and signs.
• Stairways and aisles.
• Equipment (such as office supplies, devices, chairs, and tables).
• Emergency equipment (fire hydrants and first aid equipment).
• The building/working environment you’re in.
• Hazardous products.
• Sanitation (drinking water, toilets, changing rooms etc.).
• Security measures.
• Material storage.
• Miscellaneous inspections (bins, phone equipment, electrical wiring, shelves etc.).

Remember, this occupational Health & Safety workplace inspection list is a template and you should adapt it to meet your business requirements.

This is dependent on the industry you’re in, the number of employees you have, and the steps you’ll need to take to ensure safe working conditions.

Inspections of your workplace

Governing the Health & Safety laws in the UK is the Health and Safety Executive. And through this government agency you can gain assistance.

HSE statutory inspections provide an inspection of the workplace and identify where you need to take steps to avoid accidents and injuries.

There are other industry-leading services as well, such as with Peninsula’s risk assessment service for SMEs, along with online health & safety software to further assist your requirements.

Ultimately, if you need assistance there’s expert advice only ever a phone call away.

Need our help?

For any Health & Safety requirements, get in touch with us and we’ll ensure you comply with current laws: 0800 028 2420.