Safety Sampling is a critical component of any safety management system. As well as providing ongoing visibility of the organisation's safety arrangements, it can also drive a number of positive safety outcomes.
Visibility and Accountability
The adage that 'what gets checked gets done' holds true, provided the checking is not a “tick-box exercise”. Safety Sampling is checking! But how do you remove the tick-box aspect? In BCarm, there are a number of methods for achieving this.
- Checklists can be completed on our App, live (and offline ) if necessary in the workplace.
- They can also include the capture of an image as part of the check, thus making the check evidential.
- A check with a negative outcome can trigger an automatic task for the employee or their manager.
- The negative outcomes can also create a “management alert” to allow intervention.
Plan – Do – Check – Act (PDCA)
PDCA is a key component of a proactive safety management system as it ensures that what is planned is actioned, checked and then, where necessary, corrective action taken. This is why PDCA is a core element of ISO Management standards. Safety Sampling is a “Check” element of PDCA.
In BCarm, this is achieved through the proactive monitoring of Risk Assessments, to ensure the control measures are implemented, operational and being complied with and the use of checklists to check a variety of workplace safety arrangements (i.e. pre-start check).
Performance Data
Performance data is an essential component in managing any activity and needs to include both Lag Metrics, which tell you what has happened and Lead Metrics, which tell you what might happen. Lead Metrics are key to proactive safety management. (If you are unfamiliar with how Performance metrics can help elevate your health and safety performance, read our insight.)
BCarm's Health and Safety Management system delivers Lead and Performance data through the following Safety Sampling.
Risk Assessments
In BCarms HSMS, Risk Assessments are more than just reference documents, as each can have a proactive monitoring regime attached to it that tasks someone to "monitor" which control measures are in operation and being complied with. This reporting or monitoring produces a performance score for the Risk Assessment, i.e. if the Risk Assessment has 10 control measures and only 7 are being met, then it is 70% compliant. This is a Lead Metric.
Checklists/ Audits/Plant Inspections
Checklists can also produce Lead Performance data when they are used to undertake proactive safety checks with positive outcomes accruing a score and negative outcomes no score. For example, a Warehouse Housekeeping Checklist may have 20 criteria (each scoring 10 in the positive); if only 12 of these are met, then this will generate a score of 60%.
BCarm's HSMS also allow for weighting to be built into the scoring.
Safety Activity
System-generated tasks are used to drive essential Health & Safety related activities throughout the business, e.g. monitoring of control measures identified in a Risk Assessment.
Performance Data can be generated through tasks, as the business will have a detailed record of which H&S activities are being completed and which are not, generating both compliance information and Lead Performance Metrics.
For example, if a risk assessment needs to be reviewed yearly to assess its ongoing suitability, then a task will be assigned to the responsible individual; once the review task is completed, the system will record that the task has been completed as well as the revision history for the risk assessment.
How do I get started?
To understand how BCarm could work for you, arrange a meeting with the BCarm team so we can understand your needs and requirements.
