Rancho Mesa's Alyssa Burley and Media Communications & Client Services Coordinator Lauren Stumpf talk about safety observations and how they can be documented and managed using the Risk Management Center.

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Risk Management Center

Director/Host: Alyssa Burley

Producer/Guest: Lauren Stumpf

Editor: Megan Lockhart

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “News Room News” by Spence

© Copyright 2021. Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Transcript

[Introduction Music]

Alyssa Burley:  Hi, this is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa’s Media Communications and Client Services Department. Thank you for listening to today's top Rancho Mesa news brought to you by our Safety and Risk Management Network, StudioOne™.

Welcome back everyone. Today, my guest is Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications and Client Services Coordinator with Rancho Mesa. Today, we’re going to talk about Safety Observations and how they can be documented and managed using the Risk Management Center. Lauren, welcome to the show.

Lauren Stumpf: Thanks for having me; it’s always great to be back.

AB: For listeners who aren’t familiar with safety observations, will you give a brief overview of what they are and why they’re important?

LS: Sure, safety observations utilize job hazard analyses, or JHAs, to detect any unsafe behaviors in the workplace. The JHAs identify any possible hazards by itemizing what steps the employee must take in order to remain safe while performing the job.  The safety observations then use the items identified in the JHA as a guide when watching the employee perform the job.

It’s important to conduct regular safety observations to detect areas in the workplace that need attention or employees who need additional training. Observing the employee doing the job can identify issues before an incident occurs and allow the safety manager to track ‘at-risk-behaviors’ before they result in a claim.

Safety observations pinpoint areas that need to be addressed in the workplace, and provide a mechanism for documentation of the recommended corrective actions, the appropriate personnel to correct the issue, and when the correction was completed.

AB: Listeners can get more information about JHAs in Ep. 148, Implementing Behavior-Based Safety Programs with JHAs.

So Lauren, how might an employer use a safety observation?

LS: Great question. A safety manager would use a safety observation when visiting the jobsite. If they’re observing employees pouring concrete, for example, their concrete JHA may identify issues like dust, noise, drying of the skin, rebar exposure, form building, and the list goes on. Under each of those issues, there will be a list of job requirements like wearing a properly fitting respirator appropriate for exposure, wearing hearing protection, wearing chemical resistant gloves, and ensure rebar ends are effectively protected and kept in place at all times. 

As the safety manager is observing employees, they’ll be identifying if the crew or specific employees are in compliant with the requirement.  

AB: How does the safety manager document if the crew or employee is in compliance with the job requirements?

LS: In the Risk Management Center, Safety Observation Track allows the safety manager to document the job, date, and who they are observing. It also allows them to document whether the employee was compliant or not.  And, there are varying levels of severity depending on the seriousness of the violation.

With any violation of a requirement, the safety manager can identify the root cause, corrective actions, and the responsible party. The system will even send a notice via email to the responsible party.  Once they’ve completed the corrective action, the responsible party signs off that it’s been completed. 

So, if the concrete crew wasn’t wearing eye protection, the corrective action may be to ensure all crew members have and wear eye protection.  A photo of the group could be uploaded showing they now have and are wearing eye protection.

Reports, photos, and other documents can be uploaded to document that the corrective action was completed. 

AB: If the safety manager is out at a jobsite, how do they access Safety Observation Track?

LS: Well, there are two options. If they have a mobile device like a tablet, they’ll login to the Risk Management Center website to document the observation from the screen.  The other option is to print out the safety observation on paper, complete the observation, then document it in the Risk Management Center back at the office.

AB: Okay, so now that the safety manager has completed a safety observation, identified corrective actions, and they’ve been completed, is there a way to access this information for future trainings, employee reviews, etcetera?

LS: Yes, in Safety Observation Track, each observation has a summary of what was observed and a causes and corrections report. 

AB: Well, we learned a lot about safety observations, today. Thank you for explaining why they are important, and how to create and manage them in the Risk Management Center.

[Closing Music]

So Lauren, thank you for joining me in StudioOne™.

LS: Thanks for having me.

AB: This is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa. Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne™. For more information, visit us at ranchomesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.