Construction Site Safety Inspections – The Ultimate Guide

According to data from OSHA (US Occupational Safety and Health Administration), out of 4,764 worker fatalities in private industry in 2020, 976 or 20% were in construction — that is, one in five worker deaths that year was in construction. This means, on average, there are almost three fatalities every day on construction sites in the US. Not to mention injuries or other construction accidents that cause damages or delays.

As these numbers demonstrate, construction site safety is essential and as we explain below, it would be a big mistake to view site safety inspections as a burden or a formality. The benefits of safety inspection reports are enormous and not limited to the safety of your workers.

Overall, construction firms report positive financial impacts from safety programs. And the size of those benefits increases as the depth of the program increases. This is a powerful finding in an industry that operates on low margins.

In this guide, you'll learn more about site safety inspections and their importance in the construction industry. We'll also share best practices for conducting site safety inspections and tips for choosing the best construction safety inspection app.

Maintaining a safe construction site is crucial for workers' well-being and the project's success. A safe construction site reduces the risk of accidents and injuries and increases productivity and efficiency. When workers feel safe and secure, they are more likely to focus on their tasks and complete them accurately and on time. Additionally, a safe construction site can improve the company’s reputation and attract potential clients who prioritize safety and quality. Construction firms can reap the benefits of a safe work environment by investing in safety measures and providing proper training.

1. Improve worker safety and retention

First of all, you want your workers to be safe. You want them to go home in the same condition they came to work in. Companies that fail to provide safe work environments are unable to retain their workforce in the long term.

On the contrary, when companies comply with regulations, provide all necessary PPE, eliminate job site hazards and risks, and listen to their workers when concerns are raised, they enjoy the benefits of safe worksites—which translates into both a high retention rate of current workers and an increased flow of new ones.

This alone can give you a significant competitive advantage in times of construction worker shortage.

2. Enhance Your Reputation

A well-performing safety program will give you a significant advantage in the marketplace. Developers are becoming more interested in safety programs as well. They recognise that a safety-conscious general contractor reduces their potential liability for lawsuits and bad publicity. A safety program is a legitimate marketing advantage that allows you to separate your firm from your competition.

3. Keep Operations Moving

A safety program is also a benefit from a construction management standpoint, as it will prevent you from suffering incidents and project disruptions that create delays and waste time. This leads to improved performance and more on-time project deliveries.

Also, workers will come to your job sites trusting that they operate within a safe work environment, improving morale and productivity. Let's also remember that injuries lead to higher insurance premiums and potential fines.

4. Comply with Regulations

If OSHA or another outside person/agency inspects the work site, you will have clear documentation about the inspections that have been performed. For example, if a crane on your job site malfunctions but you have documentation showing it was recently inspected, you can demonstrate that you followed proper safety procedures.

Construction safety inspections are the most effective means of catching and countering bad habits and hazards.

Supervisors and safety officers walk the job site several times weekly, observing work in progress, documenting violations and potential hazards, and implementing corrective actions before injuries and accidents occur.

Next to site inspections, a good safety program's two most important components are planning and training.

Planning ahead, for example, by doing a daily pre-task planning session, allows workers to see and avoid mishaps before they occur. Assess the tasks to be performed during that day or week, identify hazards, then eliminate them.

You should also provide proper training for everyone on-site. Constant training is important due to the ever-evolving nature of personal protective equipment (PPE). By training regularly, a contractor can address these changes in regulation proactively. Every time your people are trained, they become more capable and more focused on safety.

All supervisors should do informal inspections whenever they are out on site. Such inspections identify hazardous conditions and correct them immediately or report them for corrective action. These site inspections vary with the frequency and conditions of equipment use.

Formal documented construction site inspections are ideally done weekly by the construction site manager and monthly by health and safety representatives.

Getting project managers or even company leadership involved with inspections is also a good idea to emphasise their importance.

Here are a couple of useful tips for executing safety inspection site visits:

• Draw attention to the presence of any immediate danger. Other items can await the final report.
• Shut down any hazardous items that cannot be brought to a safe operating standard until repaired.
• Do not operate equipment. Ask the operator for a demonstration. If the operator of any piece of construction equipment does not know what dangers may be present, this is cause for concern. Never ignore any item because you do not have the knowledge to make an accurate judgment of safety.
• Look up, down, around, and inside. Be methodical and thorough. Do not spoil the inspection with a "once-over-lightly" approach.
• Make "on-the-spot" recordings of all findings before they are forgotten.
• Ask questions, but do not unnecessarily disrupt work activities.
• Consider operational factors, such as how the work is organised or the pace of the work, and how these factors impact safety.
• Discuss as a group whether any problem, hazard, or accident might generate from a given work situation. Determine what corrections or controls are appropriate.
• Take a lot of photos.

The goal of construction safety inspections is to identify hazards, and the best way to do that is with a checklist. With everything written down, it's easy to ensure you've covered all your bases, reducing the chance of missing a potential hazard.

A checklist is a powerful way to ensure you pay attention to important details when it comes to construction site inspections. They free up your mental RAM.

The construction safety checklist should be comprehensive, covering the following topics at a minimum:

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Has the correct gear been distributed to all workers? Is each piece of equipment in good repair?
• Tools and equipment: Are they in proper working order? Are people using the right tool for the job?
• Fall protection methods: Is fall protection in use? Is it properly set up?
• Protective devices and signs: Are welders surrounded by a curtain to protect others? Are signs easy to read and warnings clear?
• Electrical concerns: Are electrical cords safe and kept off the floor? Is there proper lighting? Is temporary electricity safely installed?
• Scaffolding: Are all connections secure? Is scaffolding tied to the structure? Are all connections secure?

Not all safety inspection reports will look the same. Depending on your business and the type of projects you perform, you'll need to include different items.

Here are the most common elements of a construction safety inspection report:

• Project information: Add the project name, project number, address, name of the person who created the report, etc.
• Report date: If you want to record what happened or what didn't happen on a particular day or week, you need to put the date on your report.
• Safety hazards and incidents:
  • Copy all unfinished items from the previous report to the new report.
  • Document all safety risks and observations with enough photos to illustrate the issue. Add recommended methods of control.
  • In the case of accidents or incidents, record who they impacted, who was involved, when and where they occurred, the impact on work, and any photos of the event.
  • Number each item consecutively.
  • Classify hazards. A hazard rating establishes priorities for corrective action and highlights the severity or seriousness of the hazards.
  • Add a due date to the items.
  • Assign the items so responsibilities are clear. This will facilitate accountability and prevent problems from slipping through the cracks. It's not enough for workers to note they found problems; they must also be resolved quickly.
  • Make sure the location of the item is clear, e.g., by adding annotations to a floor plan.
• Signatures: Optionally, you can ask people present to sign off the report.

Your safety inspections and reports are the basis for corrective actions and follow-up, which will prevent incidents from happening in the first place. So, it's worthwhile to make your safety reports effective by following these best practices:

• Provide sufficient detail: State precisely what has been detected and accurately identify its location, together with pictures.
• Document items and file reports as early as possible: Memories can fade quickly. The shorter the time frame between events and notation, the more accurate the reports will be. Using an app, you can document observations immediately. Copies of inspection reports should also be sent to management.
• Readability: Keep it simple, use everyday language, and include enough pictures. Don't use specialist terms, but don't be too prosaic, either. Just stick to a concise and clear description of the facts so anyone can read and understand the reports. Also, remember that people often don’t read long texts but will look at pictures. As the old adage goes, a picture says more than 1000 words, so make sure to include enough images.
• Layout and branding: Clean, structured, professional reports that include the company's logo, header, footer, and other branding will radiate a professional attitude regarding safety towards all parties involved (client, workers, subcontractors, etc.). If you demonstrate that you are being serious about safety, others will also be more inclined to be serious.
• Include positive elements too: When certain safety risks are managed well, or when a hazard registered during a previous inspection has been addressed, don't forget to compliment the workers on site and mention this on your inspection report as well. People will be more receptive to your advice. Safety officers that only include problems and non-conformities in the report rarely achieve good results. Including compliments and positive items are great for worker motivation. With positive reinforcement, you reward workers exhibiting the desired behaviour. Rewarding good conduct, rather than punishing negative actions, is a proven method to help promote positive behaviour in children and adults. Doing so reinforces the desired action, which has a much stronger effect than punishment.

Here is a preview of a safety report generated with ArchiSnapper:

If you're still reading, you probably believe that safety management and inspections are fundamental. Nevertheless, there has to be a better way to draft your safety report than having to spend at least an hour putting it together manually: writing out the text, inserting photos, managing the report layout, etc.

It's no secret that construction safety reports are a big struggle for safety officers and supervisors.

With today's technology, safety inspection reports do not require much effort. With construction site inspection apps like ArchiSnapper, you can easily fill in a checklist, take photos and write text (or use voice-to-text), and the inspection reports will immediately be made available for everyone. Your logo, header, footer and other branding and layout settings will be applied automatically.

With such an app, you can use your tablet or phone on-site. Just open the app, tap “new report,” and provide the required data:

• Fill in the project status
• Review a checklist
• Write texts or use the voice-to-text functionality
• Take photos and annotate them
• Have the report signed off (if needed)
• Find the report archived to your cloud automatically, together with the signed versions and distribution history

This way, you won't have to spend an hour or so typing out scribbled notes, transferring pictures from your phone to your PC and then importing them into the report, or struggling with the layout in Word.

When you're choosing a site inspection app, make sure to take into account the following:

1. Simplicity: Less is more. At first, it might be tempting to choose an app with a lot of features, fields, forms, and configurations. But keep in mind that 90% of the time, you'll only need 10% of your app's core functionalities. You need a quick and easy way to review your safety checklist from your phone or tablet, with the ability to include photos and notes.
2. Offline functionality: Sooner or later, you'll be without a reliable internet connection. (Think: broken wifi, no 4G network, unpaid telecommunications invoices…). So make sure your app works offline and you can at least capture notes and photos without a connection.
3. Cloud storage: You don't want to lose all your daily reports if your phone gets stolen or breaks. So your software should have a web backend where your data is synced, allowing multiple colleagues to access all the inspection reports for viewing, editing, or distribution.
4. Compatibility: Your app should work on both your mobile device and computer. Many safety professionals prefer to use their phones on-site (to take photos and add quick notes) and finish the report online from their desktops.
5. Ample features: Though your app should be simple, it should also include these essential capabilities and functions:
   • Checklist functionality
   • The ability to capture notes by typing on your phone/tablet/desktop OR using voice-to-text
   • The ability to capture photos with annotations
   • The ability to draw and sketch photos
   • The ability to generate safety reports in PDF format with branding
   • Signature capture functionality
   • The ability to email the PDF construction reports to all parties involved
   • Automatic data archiving and backups
   • The ability to export/import data from other systems
   • Auto-numbering of items and reports

Doing safety inspection visits and generating safety reports takes time and energy. So, remember to apply the following practices to get the best results from this process.

Plan ahead

Before doing inspections, you need to have a checklist, an inspection schedule, that inspection members are trained, etc.

You also must develop a plan for using your data, not just collecting it. How will the findings be communicated and shared? Will they be corrected promptly and tracked to completion? How will action plans be developed and implemented as trends develop to prevent reoccurrence?

For most construction firms, each job site has its own unique risks. Devote time before construction starts to identify and establish a plan to address those risks. Communicate this safety analysis regularly to workers so they know what hazards to expect and how to work around them.

Follow up

Observations are the beginning, not the end, of the inspection process.

Any health and safety deficiencies identified during the inspection should be noted and corrective action taken. Follow up to see that the corrective action has been taken and the hazard has been effectively dealt with. That's why it makes sense to always start from your previous inspection report and keep unfinished items in the report—and mark solved items as “OK.” (Positive reinforcement, remember!)

Where inspections are done by the company's health and safety coordinator or the site health and safety representative, the site supervisor should accompany them so that any corrective action needed can be implemented as soon as possible.

Analyse

Most companies stop once the inspection is completed and the initial hazards are discovered, shared, and fixed (i.e., once the moles are whacked). This is a major error that will prevent meaningful improvements in the safety process.

If you are not conducting trend analysis on the observations you collect, these incidents could happen quite often. Ideally, you should be looking at trends and leading metrics on a number of fronts, for instance:

• What are the top hazards identified by hazard category?
• Who are the most at-risk contractors?
• What are the most at-risk projects?
• What recurring trends are developing?

By tracking and trending this information, you can turn collected data into actionable information.

Don't shoot the messenger

It is essential that the observation reporting, especially significant hazards, be non-punitive and protected. In other words, don't shoot the messenger! This often occurs from a misperception that finding unsafe observations is a reflection of how well one does the job, which will then reflect poorly on the observer or project team. It also can occur if a senior manager reacts poorly to the discoveries, such as reprimanding the observer or failing to act on the data collected.

Involve Management

Strong commitment, support, and backing from management are key to the success of any safety program. Frontline supervisors and safety officers do the majority of planned general inspections, but middle and upper management must also conduct safety tours.

Whatever the project manager and leadership focus on will be viewed by the team as important. The old saying, “Actions speak louder than words,” is true. Construction project managers who place a premium on integrating safety into their projects will ensure better overall project performance. They set the tone, agree to and enforce standards, and establish the concept that focusing on safety is the only way to do business.

Furthermore, workers and their representatives should also be involved in all aspects of your safety program—including setting goals, identifying and reporting hazards, investigating incidents and tracking progress.

Workers should be encouraged and have the means to communicate openly with management, to report safety and health concerns without fear of retaliation.