How To Write A Safety Inspection Report

Creating safety inspection reports can be a challenging and time-consuming administrative activity. From capturing on-site notes and photographs to organising them into a cohesive document, the process can be frustrating and laborious. However, conducting frequent safety inspections and delivering clear reports is essential in the construction industry.

By prioritising regular safety inspections and delivering comprehensive reports, you can minimise incidents and significantly enhance the well-being of your workforce while maximising your return on investment.

This article will delve into the essential elements of structuring your safety inspection reports and outline the crucial information that should be included.

If you're looking for a foolproof method for any repetitive multi-step process, you should use a checklist as part of your inspection process. Checklists reduce the risk of mistakes while increasing the likelihood that potential hazards will get documented. This frees up your mental space because you won't need to consider what should still be reviewed.

Creating safety reports is a process that's repeated every day, week, and month. A checklist can be an essential tool to ensure that every inspection covers all elements that need to be reviewed and that no hazard is overlooked.

When using a checklist, you will see exactly which items have already been reviewed, and you can resume the site inspection from there.

During your site inspections, you can review the checklist and complete the items to review with text and pictures. The result of such a site inspection is a safety report you can send to all parties involved.

A safety inspection checklist should include the most common items that need to be reviewed when doing an inspection, covering the following topics for example:

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Has the correct gear been distributed to all workers? Is each piece of equipment in good repair? Are protective helmets (hard hats) worn?
• 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? Protection by protected guardrails or safety nets?
• 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?
• Fire: Is there firefighting equipment available?
• General: Are the exits cleared of obstructions and accessible? Is the site clean and orderly?

This ArchiSnapper screenshot shows the checklist part of a sample safety inspection report, with a couple of checklist items that have been completed with text, pictures, and assignees

 

Next to the actual checklist, it's helpful to include other elements in the inspection report to make the report clear, well-structured and—in the worst-case scenario—admissible in court.

1. Header

Information to be included in the header of the safety report:

• Logo
• Company name
• Official address and contact details

2. Report title

The title of the inspection report should be short and clear so everyone knows immediately what it's about.

Example: “Safety report for Project ABC”

3. Project details

When someone gets your safety report, they'll want to know which project it is about without spending time figuring it out. Often the report will also be sent to the client, and it shows courtesy and respect by putting their name and project description clearly at the beginning of the report.

Things to include:

• Name of the project and customer
• Full address of the project

4. Date and time of the site inspection and weather conditions

Note the exact date and time of the safety inspection. This date can be pivotal in case of discussions or disputes. Record the weather conditions.

5. People present

Include a list of the people that are present on the site at the time of the site inspection.

Also, include a distribution column that shows to whom the safety report has been distributed.

6. Disclaimer

This is crucial: protect yourself from possible lawsuits. Including some standard boilerplate language in each site safety report might save you lots of trouble, time and money sooner or later.

If you don't know where to start, here is a standard text that you could use:

"Information contained in this Safety Report by [firm name] has been prepared to the best of our knowledge according to observable conditions at the site. This information will be approved record unless written notice to the contrary is received within seven (7) calendar days of the issue date of this document. Written corrections shall be reported to [observer] at [firm name]. Oral rebuttals will not be accepted."

7. Footer

In the footer, mention the inspection report creator’s name, email, and page numbers.

8. Signatures

To avoid uncomfortable, “he said/she said” situations later, it's a best practice to have all parties involved sign off on the safety report.

Here are three best practices to follow when creating safety inspection reports:

1. Provide sufficient detail: State precisely what hazard has been detected and accurately identify its location, together with pictures.
2. Document items and file reports as early as possible: Memories can fade quickly. The shorter the time between events and notation, the more accurate the reports will be. Using an app will help you accomplish this: review the checklist on-site and complete with pictures and notes. The inspection report will be ready and available when you leave the job site.
3. Make it readable: 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.

We all know that drafting safety inspection reports is essential. But spending an hour or more to compile a report complete with pictures in Word? Nobody wants to do that.

Luckily today's technology can help you make this process a lot easier.

With apps like ArchiSnapper, you can use your phone or tablet to fill in the safety report immediately on-site instead of having to do it at the end-of-day from your laptop:

• Fill in the project status and add project pictures
• Review your safety checklist, and complete the checklist items with the following:
• Status (OK, NOK)
• Pictures and sketches
• Notes => pro tip: try the voice-to-text functionality
• Assignee(s)
• Location information

When you're done, a beautiful PDF report will automatically be available, ready for distribution to all parties involved.

An app like ArchiSnapper will take you no effort or time to create safety inspection reports. Not only will it help you save hours of time, but it will also help you make a positive impression on the other parties (customers, contractors) when they receive a professional and complete safety report promptly.