A safety walk is an essential part of any mine’s inspection routine. However, conducting a good safety walk isn’t as easy as it may seem. In this article we’ll give you our best tips for getting the most out of your safety walk and we’ll show you how to one with GroundHog EHS.
Tips for Getting The Most Out of a Safety Walk –
- Don’t Just go Through the Motions – It is easy to fall into the habit of going through the motions with mundane tasks like inspections. This is especially true because, ideally, inspections will rarely uncover problems. However, it is important to make it clear to operators that there is nothing to be casual about when it comes to mine safety and safety walks are a great first line of defense.
- Make Reports Thorough and Descriptive – In the event of a hazard discovery, it is absolutely critical that it is documented thoroughly. This is where it’s important to take pictures and be diligent with reporting the location of the hazard. A partially dealt with hazard isn’t helping anyone, make sure to be thorough with safety walks.
- Ensure Operators are Qualified – While there isn’t a lot of training needed to conduct a safety walk. The best candidates for the job are operators with a lot of general knowledge about the mine. Someone with a little expertise about all equipment and general knowledge about standard mine procedures makes an excellent safety walker.
- Make Safety Walks a Routine – It doesn’t take a lot of time to save lives. For this reason, managers should schedule walks routinely and ensure they are carried out with care. It may seem mundane but a short time taken out of a workers day is far preferable to an injury that could have easily been prevented.
