What are Safety Observations?

Safety observations are essential evaluations of organizational safety practices, increasingly utilizing advanced AI safety platforms to optimize work environment assessments and employee behavior analysis.

Typically conducted by managers, supervisors, and EHS teams, these observations enable companies to identify positive and negative workplace safety behaviors. 

This process involves ensuring safety rules are followed, using protective gear, and assessing overall safety culture. The observer reports what they see, including how employees act, work conditions, and dangers.

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Why Are Safety Observations Important?

Safety observations play a critical role in enhancing workplace safety for all employees. For example, managers may observe employees not wearing proper PPE on construction job sites.

The safety observations report then notes this finding. EHS teams can use this information to introduce steps ensuring all employees wear PPE before entering job sites.

However, this is just one of many examples. Here are just a few reasons why safety observations are so important.

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Increase Awareness About Hazards

We recommend designing safety observations not to punish employees. As detailed in this systematic literature review, their design should help improve awareness of different hazards in the workplace. 

Supervisors gain a better understanding of the workplace’s behavioral safety by simply observing employees. If they identify any unsafe behavior, they can alert employees and correct their behaviors.

If this is a common issue, the EHS teams can train and teach employees to behave correctly.

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Mitigate Workplace Risks

This 2023 PDF summary explains how safety observations can reinforce safe work behavior and ensure employees follow safety measures. 

This ultimately helps reduce the risk of injuries posed by workplace hazards, making it easier for AI safety technology to identify critical elements that may result in unsafe work conditions and threaten employee safety.

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Tracking Safety Performance

A significant benefit of safety observations is that they allow companies to track the effectiveness of safety protocols in the workplace.

For instance, if the company recently changed safety policies to amend unsafe work behavior, employees can use safety observation reports to determine whether they follow the rules.

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5 Key Steps When Preparing Safety Observation Reports

Safety observation reports play a critical role in safety investigations, and many companies usually require managers and supervisors to follow a structured format when preparing a report.

Here are the steps involved in preparing a report.

1. Prepare a Safety Checklist

Managers often use a checklist when observing behavior in the workplace. The checklist can include different workplace behaviors and conditions, such as personal protective equipment, fire hazards, ventilation, machinery use, available entrances or exits, or other elements related to health and safety.

This checklist guides the identification of potential safety hazards and ensures the review of all critical safety measures.

2. Delegate Duties

For an effective safety report, companies must delegate the duty to people with relevant safety skills and an understanding of hazards.

Managers and safety managers who are well-versed in safe work practices and knowledgeable about potential hazards usually prepare custom safety reports. They receive occupational health and safety training, allowing for more effective observations.

3. Decide on a Suitable Time

It would help if you mentioned the specific times for conducting observations in the report. The time will vary depending on the company’s size, the nature of the work, and the work conditions.

Ideally, supervisors select a time when employees actively engage in their duties, demonstrate their regular working conditions, and practice safe behavior. A safety observation usually takes anywhere between one to several hours.

4. Gathering Observational Data

Supervisors or managers conducting a safety observation often move around the work site, observing different processes. They may focus on employees committing to safety rules, using safety glasses in required areas, or adhering to safety program guidelines. 

These observations are crucial as research shows the significant impact of workplace behaviors on overall safety. They don’t inform employees about the observation to ensure that the data they gather is unbiased. 

They may also engage employees in conversations to gather insights about their approach to safety in the workplace, including their perception of safety culture and any safety issues they face.

Gathering accurate and unbiased observational data is crucial. For deeper insights and expert guidance on implementing effective safety strategies, discover how Protex’s EHS consulting can enhance your organization’s safety practices.

5. Preparing the Report

The manager ensures they don’t miss anything by ticking items on the checklist and documenting safe and unsafe practices observed while completing the report. You must prepare safety observation reports regularly because it’s an ongoing process.

Most companies usually conduct safety observations at regular intervals, using safety observation checklists, and use the information to evaluate trends and plan corrective actions as part of their comprehensive safety plan.

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How AI Tools Smartly Enhance Safety Observations

In larger organizations, conducting compelling observations poses unique challenges. Supervisors, often needing to maintain distance to minimize disruptions, may find the quality of the data they gather compromised, leading to gaps in understanding workplace safety.

• The Role of AI in Safety Observations 

Many companies are adopting video surveillance tools with artificial intelligence to address these challenges. These AI tools offer a more nuanced approach to safety observations, allowing for detailed and comprehensive monitoring without the need for close physical supervision.

• Advancements in AI Workplace Safety Solutions 

AI workplace safety solutions utilize advanced technologies like video content analysis, ensuring enhanced AI privacy and security while monitoring safety practices autonomously. These systems can recognize specific actions or conditions, thus providing essential data to EHS teams for analyzing work practices.

• Easy Integration with Existing Infrastructure 

An advantage of these AI solutions is their ability to integrate with existing CCTV networks. This integration means organizations can upgrade their safety observation capabilities without additional hardware investment, making it a cost-effective solution.

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Seamless Safety Observations With Protex AI

Protex AI helps companies gain more visibility into general safety practices. It’s a highly scalable workplace safety solution that autonomously captures safety events, tags them, and safely stores them for review. 

Protex AI helps companies identify non-compliant events and use video evidence to prepare reports that can affect positive change in the workplace. It offers comprehensive insights that help companies better understand occupational safety.

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