Construction Site Inspection Checklist

In order to ensure good practice in the workplace, internal inspections should be as rigorous as external checks. Checklists and inspections still remain one of the best methods of preventing serious injury, or even fatality, and they shouldn't be treated lightly.

When the time comes, it is the responsibility of the site manager to ensure that the site is ready for an inspection, by addressing all areas of health and safety around the workplace. In order to do this, it may be necessary to produce and carry out a site inspection checklist.

 The check list is an excellent way of ensure that the standards are maintained on site and, once signed off, it will also serve as a record of evaluation. The Heath & Safety Executive have produced a guideline document on how to produce a health and safety toolkit for the workplace.

What is a Construction Site Inspection?

Construction site inspections are vitally important to ensure that quality and safety procedures are followed correctly from the very beginning. Construction projects involve coordinating multiple project team members, materials, and equipment which can expose workers to many potential hazards and risks. 

In order to successfully run a construction site throughout the entire lifecycle of the project, construction site inspections are necessary.

What dos a Construction Site Inspection Usually Involve?

Progress Inspections:

A construction site inspection checklist is essential in the planning phase of a construction project as it ascertains compliance with project requirements. Once the project has broken ground, progress inspections become part and parcel of the site's daily routine as it helps to ensure that the requirements are met.

Depending on the size of the project, progress inspections are conductied by one or more individuals across several different trades. If a specific aspect of the project requires additional input then specialist inspectors can be brought in to perform inspections on things such as environmental policy, waste management plan and accessibility.

Quality Inspections:

Quality inspections are designed to ensure that finished construction work meets the required quality standards. Quality inspections are also designed to ensure that the project complies with all of the specifications and quality requirements listed within the contract documents. Quality inspections also include regular site walkthroughs, as they typically result in monthly quality reports and this helps to identify and potential issues as well as monitor progress.

When managing the site, it is important that enough time is allocated for planning and organising and that regular checks are undertaken to stop dangerous practices in action. Workers of all levels should take pride in the standards at their worksite. For further information, workers can turn to Health & Safety Executive.

 

This blog will ensure that you’re able to create a site inspection checklist that eases stress in the run-up to external inspection. Although an excellent guide, the nature of this checklist should vary according to the work being carried out on site – so there’s no ‘one size fits all’ list and you’ll have to adapt it to your workplace.

 

Worker welfare

 

Worker welfare encompasses all health and safety points in the workplace and should be your number one priority. In order to consider the importance of worker welfare, it can help to think of lack of welfare facilities as a ‘slow occurring accident’.

 

For example, workers who are unable to access drinking water in hot weather are more prone to dehydration which could cause a lack of concentration or, worse, fainting. Workers should receive their mandatory breaks during the working day and are entitled to access well-kept welfare facilities at any point of the day, during their break or otherwise.

 

In order to check if your site is implementing adequate worker welfare measures, you should check the following:

 

	Checked
Toilets for all genders, clean and ready for use
Washbasins with hot and cold water, soap and towels
Changing rooms
PPE storage and laundry
Drinking water
Canteen or break area

 

Working at height

 

Working at height can be dangerous, and if there are significant failings in the way that the site is set up and managed, it is a risk that could result in the death or serious injury of a worker. Because of the risk, it’s important to ensure that safety standards are adhered to.

 

Scaffolding, scaffold towers, aerial work platforms (MEWPS), ladders, and step ladders should be used subject to checks. For example, when inspecting scaffolding, you should ensure the following:

 

	Checked
All boards in good condition and correctly placed
All rails in good position and correctly placed
Overhead hazards assessed
Base of scaffold locked down
Sufficient safety and warning signage

 

 

Site in good order

 

Ensuring that the worksite is tidy and in good order can stop a lot of preventable accidents such as slips and trips before they occur. Each worker should take responsibility for the safety of the area in which they work.

 

Risk factors such as access routes, materials and tools, signage and lighting should be assessed every day to ensure that the workplace is health and safety compliant.

 

	Checked
Adequate lighting at all times of day
Tidy site with clear waste points
Materials and equipment stored safely
Adequate signage to mark uneven surfaces, heights, etc.

 

 

Hazardous substances

 

Construction workers often work with hazardous substances. Whether they’re removing asbestos during a building renovation, or are exposed to dust during the cutting of paving or kerbs, the risks to worker health and safety are not always visible. Some work with hazardous substances will even require a special licence, so you must ensure that a licenced contractor is doing the work.

 

Precautions should be identified and put into place that prevent and control the amount of exposure that workers to have to hazardous substances:

 

Can the work be undertaken in another, less hazardous, way?

 

Can the work be done with a less hazardous material?

 

Is it possible to use tools fitted with dust extraction?

 

Is it possible to use tools fitted with water suppression?

 

Are workers wearing relevant PPE: goggles, respirators, hard hats and hi-vis?

 

These checklists for construction site safety are by no means exhaustive, and they should be used only as the backbone of a larger, more comprehensive inspection approach. However, they will give you a head start on ensuring that you’re providing the safest environment possible for your employees to work in.