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A very common tool many companies use to verify the effectiveness of any compliance system, whether related to health and safety, employment standards, or simply good manufacturing practices, is the handy checklist. Those tasked with performing internal auditing or facility inspections will use a pre-determined list of observations and standards that aim to determine whether the company is following the rules and practicing appropriate due diligence. How is it then, when all the boxes are checked, that a company may still experience workplace injuries, regulatory violations, or poor performance and safety culture – everything looked right on paper?
While a checklist may be a valuable tool, it can also be ineffective in determining risk, as well as the individual needs of a company and their employees. For example, imagine there are three new workers beginning their employment journey at your company. You have a person tasked with performing orientation and basic training. This person follows a checklist related to the information these employees are required to receive during orientation training, such as hazard awareness and reporting and workplace violence and harassment training. The employees appear to be acknowledging that they understand the information and sign a page that confirms they have received and understand the training. Weeks later, an employee trips over some debris left in a walkway and experiences minor injuries. An investigation determines that one of the new employees completed a pre-operational inspection that morning and failed to report the debris that led to the trip. When the employee is questioned, they claim they didn’t know this debris was a hazard.
In a situation like this, comments such as, “Well isn’t that common sense?” or “We talked about this in orientation!” may be the first reaction to the employee’s failure to report a hazard. However, is that really the issue? If we take the time to look at the root cause of the situation, we may find that the worker didn’t comprehend the information provided in orientation. Perhaps the training was a practiced presentation that left little room for clarification or discussion. Does the employee struggle with a language barrier? Were the procedures identified in orientation practiced or enforced by supervisors or managers through practical application? While orientation may have been checked off as completed, and the materials provided may meet compliance criteria, this does not guarantee the training will be effective. Furthermore, when there’s evidence of internal gaps and failures despite all the boxes being checked, there’s evidence the company is not really meeting their due diligence for compliance.
Identifying and assessing risks are necessary steps. This ensures the protocols in place address the underlying risks and gaps in the compliance system. These risks and gaps could lead to incidents and violations that a company might not see coming because all the boxes are checked.
Here are five tips for addressing common risks and mitigating the false security of only using a compliance checklist:
Training and “toolbox talks” may be boring for both the person giving the presentation as well as the people receiving the information. The person training may be rushing to get through the information just to claim that it was done, and the trainees may not be listening or their minds may have wandered off. The language used or training materials provided may be too complex for most people to understand. It may be cryptic, or may even be provided in a language that is not native to the trainee. When trainers and trainees are provided with materials that are clear, engaging, and utilize simple and common language along with visual aids, a company can gain a more attentive audience. Furthermore, ensuring materials are interpreted as necessary for workers whose first language may not be English gives that worker the best chance to comprehend the material.
Workers may nod along and smile, appearing to understand everything that is said. They may sign a confirmation of understanding or verbally confirm that they are aware of expectations. This does not make it so, however, as employees may not want to admit when they don’t understand something.
Knowledge or comprehension verification does not mean that a written test must be collected from each employee every time information is conveyed. Having a list of prepared questions ready to go throughout or at the end of a training session or discussion can not only help engage workers but clarify any confusion in the moment before a misunderstanding has the chance to affect them or their coworkers.
Aside from being sure that workers know their roles, responsibilities, and protocols, we should also look at the compliance checklist itself. Often the compliance checklists we work off are provided by a third-party such as an external auditing body like COR or ISO. These checklists are based on a set of standards that a company may choose to follow to enhance their own occupational health and safety management systems or good manufacturing practices in order to receive external accreditation. It is important to remember that these standards, while influenced by legislative standards and best practices, do not guarantee that a company is compliant with the law. They are a great base to start from for any given industry, but every individual company is different. Not all machines, facilities, or people are built the same. The checklist provided to ensure compliance with any standard should be customized in a way that addresses risks that may not be covered in the provided checklist, as well as notes about the specific controls used to mitigate those risks.
Likewise, if a policy is written to check a box but doesn’t make sense for the operation, that policy isn’t effective in addressing risk. The checklist can provide guidance, but the policies and procedures need to reflect what is actually occurring in a company. If you discover that the procedures and the checklist don’t align, addressing and documenting why that is can help you implement necessary changes and show that appropriate controls are in place to reduce risk.
It’s only natural to want to look your best when you’re being watched. This is a risk in itself, as the habits and behaviours used everyday are not being assessed properly and will therefore not necessarily be corrected if needed. Observations of everyday practices, as cross-referenced with documentation and policy, are vital in determining whether a company is compliant with any given standards. If a worker is checking off that a lift truck is in good working order every day, but we observe a broken seat belt when walking through a facility, the pre-use inspections are not accurate and therefore compliance is not a reality, despite what the paperwork is telling us.
From CEO to worker on the floor, everyone should be aware of their role and what an inspector, auditor, or compliance officer will be assessing should they come on site. If everyone is on the same page and “playing for the same team,” inspections will be far more successful. This may mean coming up with ways to improve safety culture, and encouraging or even rewarding certain behaviours to discourage employees from adopting unwanted workplace habits that do not meet company standards.
To review, while a compliance checklist is a very useful tool and guide, it should not be relied upon as the sole means of ensuring compliance in a company. There are many more steps and strategies beyond the tips mentioned here that a company should research and utilize in order to check off all the unwritten boxes beyond the compliance checklist.
Source: OHS Canada Sept 2024
A 29-year-old steelworker was using a telehandler to move and stage insulated metal panels at a municipal garage building site. He had worked for his employer, a commercial and industrial firm for design and build services, for seven months. He had received training on the equipment and had an operator’s permit. The worker stopped the unloaded telehandler and set the emergency brake but did not turn off the machine. With his left leg between the steering wheel and seat, and his right leg kneeling on the seat, he reached out to the right of the operator’s seated position – placing his body between the deck and boom of the machine. While reaching, he contacted the boom control joystick, which pushed the joystick forward and to the right. This lowered and fully extended the telehandler’s telescopic boom – crushing the worker’s head and chest between the deck and boom. The worker was found under the boom, which was fully extended with down-pressure applied. It is believed he was reaching for items that were stored on the deck of the machine and had shifted out of reach from the seat. He was pinned for an unknown amount of time before being found by other workers. Police and emergency medical services arrived, and the worker was pronounced dead at the scene. No citations were issued.https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/25200-face-report-steelworker-crushed-while-operating-extendable-boom-forklift
To help prevent similar occurrences, employers and workers should:
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Question: My company currently has a number of MEWP, Forklift, and Telehandler operators within the company.
Some of them have no existing certification but have experience in the operation of this equipment.
Can a practical evaluation suffice, or do they have to go through classroom and practical?
If just a practical evaluation will suffice, am I able to make my own evaluation form for this purpose?
Answer: I understand your situation but OSHA expects that both training and evaluation be performed prior to allowing operators to operate on their own.
If you perform only practical evaluations with these experienced employees, even if they were successful you would still have no record of classroom theory training and therefore would not meet the requirements per the OSHA regulations.
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