Safety tours

Verbal communication (e.g. scheduled safety tours and meetings)... 

These reviews can be done through random audits, conducted as part of plant safety tours, or scheduled as planned visual observations. 

Active monitoring systems (see Chapter 6) will enable instances of breaches in safety rules. Particularly effective formal active monitoring systems include safety tours, inspections and workplace audits. Less formal but none the less relevant are those occasions when observing behaviour in the workplace occurs as a result of visiting the workplace for other reasons, for example quality control or welfare. 

Safety tours and inspections >- Team briefings >- Management meetings >- Tool box talks by supervisors >- Problem-solving workshops >- Appraisal interviews. 

Complying with all the safety rules in the workplace > Attending safety committee meetings >- Responding positively to safety events and the safety concerns of the workforce >- Taking part in safety tours of the workplace >- Dealing effectively with non-compliance to safety rules. 

Site safety tours and site safety inspections >- Activity observation ... 

Safety tours - similar to safety inspections but which involve unscheduled checks on issues such as means of escape, housekeeping and PPE >- Safety surveys - which focus upon a particular activity such as hot work or manual handling they... 

Audits are discussed later in the chapter and due to their similarity, safety inspections and safety tours will be discussed as one. 

For any inspection to be of value, a trained, competent person or team must conduct it. In larger organisations the role of the fire warden/marshal (whose main function is to assist persons to escape safely in the event of a fire) is extended to undertake part of the inspection process, which may be referred to as a safety tour, as the process invoives a physicai check of the areas for which they are fuifiiiing their fire warden/ marshai function. 

These safety tours are siightiy iess formai than a fuii inspection programme however, they assist in fuifiiiing... 

A further recommendation may be to review the policy and arrangements for the management of fire to include a monthly inspection/safety tour programme (Priority 3/4). 

A safety tour is an unscheduled examination of a work area undertaken by a selected group of staff, including the manager with direct responsibility for that area, members of a health and safety committee, supervisors, trade union safety representatives and selected operators. A safety tour can examine predetermined health and safety aspects, such as housekeeping levels, standards of machinery safety, the use of personal protective equipment and the operation of established safe systems of work. Safety tours should be related to and reinforce decisions made by local management or by the health and safety committee. For maximum effectiveness, it is essential that action following a safety tour is taken immediately. 

Request that the local fire department come into the warehouse for a safety tour. They will point out safeguards to include in the programs as well as offer reminders of observed weaknesses in the system. Many fire departments can offer professional advice that is invaluable. It s possible that a few employees in the warehouse may serve on the volunteer fire department and will bring this expertise to the planning process. 

---