Why Documentation is Crucial for Safety in Utility and Industrial Companies
Having updated documentation of all your company’s procedures enhances safety. Documentation also gives your clients an exact outline of your company’s operations and what to expect when you hire them.
Taking the extra step and outlining safety procedures creates consistency and awareness within your company. When an issue arises, your workers will know how to handle and solve the problem right.
We all strive for zero lost time. Being prepared and knowing how to respond when these situations occur is essential. Use documentation as a company guide to train, address possible safety issues, and lead your workers toward safe solutions.
Key Elements of Effective Documentation
When writing your company’s safety documents, they should be clear and concise. Since this is an internal outline for your workers, it must be easy to read and retain. It should read as step-by-step instructions that tell your workers what to do.
Consistency is also key. Each procedure and step must be up-to-date and accurate to maintain safety standards. Having just one step off could cause other problems. In order to achieve buy-in from your crew, it’s important to promote open discussion about mitigating hazards within your policies. Encourage an interactive conversation and involve your crew to ensure everyone is on the same page.
To keep your document organized, try grouping issues into specific categories. Here are the five types we recommend using.
Documenting Safety Procedures and Protocols
Safety is a process that should be intentionally followed. Your employees should not read these protocols as a suggestion but as a mandatory step that leads them toward success. You must also create buy-in by involving employees on a council, encouraging them to recognize and mitigate hazards on the job site, and routinely discussing job site hazards throughout the day.
Creating a safety document is straightforward. Each step must describe the risk, how to mitigate the risk, and when to move forward. Your team should use a JSA throughout the day to discuss hazards and how to mitigate them as a team. The leader of each crew should be trained on how to lead effective safety meetings.
We also recommend covering any safety preparations that need to be done before a task. For example, cleaning an area or equipment before working on it so there are no job hazards.
At the end of each procedure, list all contingencies that could happen. If something in your plan fails, you need backup measures in place. These should be based on damage control, repair, and treatment. An example might be treating an injury or how to reduce damages from specific equipment or vehicles. Also, always establish a meet spot, the nearest hospitals, and your exact location so that in the event of an emergency, all of that data is immediately available to anyone on the crew.
Incident Reporting and Investigation Documentation
Reporting incidents within your workplace prevents future problems and injuries from happening. When your employees fill out incident reports, it promotes proactive behavior and allows you to investigate the incident.
Incident reports are intended to be a process for recording work-related safety issues, like accidents or injuries. We recommend keeping all these forms on file so that you are aware of these issues, can address them, and create solutions to prevent future accidents. Have a safety committee that works together to mitigate hazards and prevent an incident from happening again.
When filing an incident report, remember to include the time and date, location, describe the incident and damages, names of people involved, and provide photos. This will be key to the mitigation response to this incident. No further work should occur that is similar to the incident until mitigation steps have been implemented.
Training and Certification Documentation
Companies with trained and certified employees should document this to keep an updated record. Having certifications and training promote safety and efficient work within your company. It also ensures compliance with industry standards and regulations.
One of the easiest ways to document training and certifications is by digitalizing your records. Keeping paper copies requires space and can quickly get disorganized. When everything is on a digital document, it makes it easier to find and look up specific certifications.
We suggest using a record management system (TRMS) to manage your training records and services. Cloud-based software centralizes all your documents and creates spreadsheets for you.
Equipment and Maintenance Documentation
Just as documenting safety procedures resolves issues and is proactive, this is the same for equipment maintenance. When companies keep equipment maintenance records, it prevents future equipment failures and tracks how they are fixed.
It is also essential to keep a consistent record of all maintenance schedules, inspections, and repairs so you are not needlessly repeating or going too long without getting equipment checked. This will also save your company time and money.
Client Documentation and Communication
Showing your clients these safety records shows that your company is up-to-date and innovative. The more open and communicative you are towards them, the more trust you build between them and your brand.
It is reassuring for clients to see safety and maintenance documentation and indicates credibility. When communicating with your clients, we recommend being completely transparent and honest. Tell your clients what they need to know so they are aware.
If an issue arises, tell them precisely what happened and how you plan to solve it. A great source to use in this situation is any safety documents. This shows that you are a reliable company that strives for safety and takes it seriously.
The Power of Comprehensive Documentation for Safety
We aim for zero incidents. To ensure safety, it is important to have strong leadership, proper documentation, a solid safety plan, and an innovative safety culture that actively identifies and addresses potential hazards before work begins. This is key. You must have employee buy-in, period.
At Lanracorp, we prioritize and strive to create an innovative safety culture within our company. It’s time to build a safety culture for your business.