Health and safety tours are an essential technique for demonstrating management’s commitment to health and safety in the workplace. The tour is carried out by a senior manager who takes on the responsibility of leading the inspection. This process is an excellent way to show the workforce that their safety is important to the company.
To ensure the safety of the observing manager, they must wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) while carrying out the inspection. The manager must also be aware of health and safety, but they need not be an expert. However, the manager should be a competent observer and note any apparent non-compliance with health and safety requirements. For example, unguarded moving parts of machinery or workers failing to wear appropriate PPE.
Typically lasting between 30 and 40 minutes, the safety tour is essential to any company’s health and safety program. During this time, the observing manager should also be prepared to discuss health and safety matters with workers or safety representatives if they wish to do so.
To ensure a realistic impression of normal working conditions, the tour should remain unannounced at irregular intervals. This approach provides an accurate representation of the workplace’s safety conditions, and it helps identify any areas where safety improvements are necessary.