Workplace inspections

Managers and supervisors should conduct workplace inspections on a regular basis, with the assistance of the OHS representative or an employee familiar with the work area. A checklist should be used to identify potential hazards. This method of identifying hazards should be used in conjunction with the second stage of hazard management, risk assessment.

Inspection checklists should be designed to meet the needs of the workplace or work area to be inspected. This will ensure that the inspection is relevant to the workplace.

The inspection checklist should encourage the people conducting the inspection to record:

• the hazards found
• actions taken at the time of the inspection (may overlap with risk control)
• allocation of responsibilities for action to be taken
• timeframes for actions to be completed.