Insights · Occupational safety
Increased occupational health and safety inspections
- Published
- 17 May 2024
- Reading time
- 3 min read
Occupational safety authorities, district governments and employers’ liability insurance associations are currently carrying out more occupational health and safety inspections. These inspections often have the following features in common:
- They come without warning
- There is too little time to prepare
- Occupational health and safety documents are not stored centrally, are incomplete or are out of date
- The inspection costs time, money and nerves
With the right preparation, you can approach an inspection with confidence and avoid extensive follow-up measures.
Forward-looking occupational health and safety management
Modern occupational health and safety management is digital and interdisciplinary. Implementing such a system requires effort initially, but the benefits soon outweigh it:
Digital evaluations of site inspections and occupational health and safety audits with recommended actions
Support with risk assessments through precisely tailored modules
Regular occupational health and safety training through e-learning
Digital hazardous substances register with stored safety data sheets
Deadline management for personal deadlines (first aiders, fire safety assistants) and inspection deadlines for installations and equipment
Interfaces with data protection
Management of accident reports
Legal support where needed, for example when delegating employer duties or dealing with workplace accidents
Once implemented, the effort required for ongoing review is significantly reduced.
Best-practice recommendations
Central documentation
It is advisable to store all documents that may be relevant to an inspection centrally in a secure digital system. This removes the need to gather folders and documents laboriously.
Employee portal with all relevant information
A digital employee portal can provide employees with important documents such as operating instructions, emergency numbers, safety data sheets or evacuation plans. This solution is particularly useful for companies with multiple sites.
Practice-oriented training
Intelligent solutions make it easy to structure and manage occupational health and safety training and instruction. E-learning is suitable for recurring training, while webinars are useful for specialist topics that require an exchange of information and answers to follow-up questions.
Pragmatic exercise programmes
Practical exercises, such as unannounced evacuation and fire safety drills, are important for identifying shortcomings in occupational health and safety organisation. A coherent approach to conducting, evaluating and reviewing the exercises ensures a lasting learning effect.
Work across functions and use synergies
Digital occupational health and safety management systems provide interfaces with data protection, information security, compliance and quality management. These links create considerable added value and prevent duplicated work.
”First aid” for imminent inspections
What should you do if an inspection is imminent? As always in occupational health and safety: “Keep calm!” External service providers can also help at short notice. Our interdisciplinary team provides practical advice and assistance. Our occupational safety specialist uses a digital assessment to identify existing gaps and prioritise the necessary measures. We create missing documents using our document generator, and training can be provided at short notice through our e-learning platform. Meanwhile, our lawyers handle communications with the employers’ liability insurance associations and trade supervisory authorities.
Please contact us for further information.
Do you have questions about this topic?
We can assess what the development means for your organisation and advise you directly.
