Office of Occupational and Radiological Health

Recognizing and Correcting Safety and Health Hazards

The most effective and acceptable way to identify potential safety hazards is by conducting a safety and health inspection. By choosing to be proactive in conducting a safety and health inspection you the employer, will know with certainty, the conditions which are present in theworkplace.

Begin a program of self-inspection in your own workplace. Self-inspection is a must if you are to know where probable hazards exist and whether they are under control. Below is a listing of general conditions present in the workplace. This list can be used as a checklist to follow during a self inspection, depending on which type of business you are engaged in.

• Processing, Receiving, Shipping, and Storage: Inspect equipment, job planning, layout, heights, floor loads, projection of materials, materials handling and storage methods, and training on material handling equipment.
• Building and Grounds Conditions: Floors, walls, ceilings, exits, stairs, walkways, ramps, platforms, driveways, and aisles.
• Housekeeping Program: Waste disposal, tools, objects, materials, leakage, and spillage, cleaning methods, schedules, work areas, remote areas, and storage areas.
• Electricity: Equipment, switches, breakers, fuses, switchboxes, junctions, special fixtures, circuits, insulation, extensions, tools, motors, grounding, and National Electric Code (NEC) compliance.
• Lighting: Type, intensity, controls, conditions, diffusion, location, and glare and shadow control.
• Heating and Ventilation: Type, effectiveness, temperature, humidity, controls, and natural, and artificial ventilation and exhaust.
• Machinery : Points of operation, flywheels, gears, shafts, pulleys, key ways, belts, couplings, sprockets, chains, frames, controls, lighting for tools and equipment, brakes, exhausting, feeding, oiling, adjusting, maintenance, lockout/tagout, grounding, work space, location, and purchasing standards.
• Personnel: experience, training (including hazard identification), methods of checking machines before use, type of clothing, personal protective equipment, use of guards, tool storage, work practices, and methods of cleaning, oiling or adjusting machinery.
• Hand and Power Tools: Purchasing standards, inspection, storage, repair, types, maintenance, grounding, use, and handling.
• Chemicals: Storage, handling, transportation, spills, disposals, amounts used, labeling, toxicity, or other harmful effects, warning signs, supervision, training, protective clothing and equipment, and hazard communication