Checklist of Champions: Your Complete Employee Safety Observation Form Guide

In the electrical utility industry, safety is everything. It should be a primary focus for your organization to always be conscious of ways to mitigate hazards and promote the safety of your workers. One of the most effective ways to do this is to perform and record safety observations using an employee safety observation form. These safety observations, when conducted frequently, can be your most powerful tool to visualize how safe your daily operations are, and illuminate the next action steps that need to be taken.

But how can you implement safety observations in your workplace, and once you do, how do you determine what comes next? Let’s break down the process and see how safety observations can create a safer environment for you and your employees.

Analyze

First of all, you’ll need an employee safety observation form. These can take a variety of… well, forms, but it’s usually best to stick with a checklist format. This helps distinguish what is right and what is wrong at a glance. It’s also a good idea to organize the types of observations by category, perhaps by the type of task being performed or by department.

eSafeTrak's employee safety observation forms are web-based, meaning that they are accessible anywhere, from the office to the job site.

Many organizations elect to use paper forms because it is the traditional approach, but digital forms have several advantages. For example, a digital form can be available from anywhere, like the office or the job site. Moreover, and as we’ll see, digital forms can be easily converted into graphs and charts, showing clear trends and empowering your organization to determine your next action steps. You can digitize your employee safety observation forms by creating a spreadsheet or by using software like eSafeTrak’s Observations feature.

Synthesize

Now, you have hundreds of completed employee safety observation forms. How do you sift through them and create your mitigation plan? With paper employee safety observation forms, this would be a tedious process. However, this is where using digital employee safety observation forms can be greatly beneficial.

eSafeTrak's powerful employee safety observation forms features automatically generate charts and graphs to easily see what the most pressing safety issues in your organization are.

By using digital spreadsheets or eSafeTrak’s Observations feature, you can easily compile all of your employee safety observation data. Furthermore, eSafeTrak will automatically generate charts and graphs to show you exactly what issues need addressing, and allows you to filter that data by date, division, and more.

Strategize

You’ve collected all of your data, and you’ve compiled that with data visualization tools. Now it’s time to formulate your plan.

Are there recurring issues with a handful of employees? Call them into your office to discuss the issues one-on-one. Are the issues occurring throughout a department? Perhaps discuss the issues directly with the department manager. Do the issues pertain to a particular aspect of the job? Organize new training sessions to ensure that your employees know proper procedures.

Energize Your Employee Safety Observation Form

In conclusion, the best way to mitigate hazards in your workplace is to first know what those hazards are. Collecting data using employee safety observation forms provides the knowledge of what issues need fixing. Then, processing that data gives you the wisdom of how to fix those issues. And when you have these kinds of powerful tools in your toolbelt, you can rest assured that you are operating a safe and responsible workplace.