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What is a Safety Checklist and why do you need one?

Checklists are great, whether you are at home or work they help you keep track of all the tasks you need to accomplish so that nothing is actually forgotten. The problem though is that if they don't contain everything that you need to know then things are able to be forgotten and overlooked without you knowing until it is possibly too late. There are times when this might not be too bad, forgetting to get eggs from the grocery store when you're about to make a cake for example can be annoying, none the less it is not likely to be life threatening. However, in the case of Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) you are actually dealing with life threatening situations. A simple section that is overlooked could lead to major ramifications such as lifelong injuries that restrict/prevent people from working or even death.

So, it's vitally important to consider carefully what is needed when creating a Workplace Health and Safety induction checklist. In order to help with this, you should first contemplate the purpose or purposes that you are creating it for:
- One is to inform your freshly job-offered employees about the risks and dangers that are possible/present at their new workplace.
- Once they are made aware, they will be better able to navigate the hazards posed, such as knowing which correct protective equipment to use and what they should avoid.
- They need to help ensure that your employees have the correct skills, training and qualifications that are required.
- Inform all employees about what they need to do in order to correctly follow emergency and incident reporting procedures.
- To help define the positions and responsibilities of the health and safety workers.

That's the main purposes for the use of safety checklists, it is important to keep in mind that even if they are within the same industry or company differences will occur between WHS checklists. There are several possible reasons for this such as state government policies, different company policies, environmental factors etcetera

Tips for creating a safety checklist

Given that there can be variations between checklists it is important to think of what articles should be considered for inclusion:
- Issuing of correct safety equipment and accessories (such as safety manuals, hearing aids, security passes and safety policy details)
- Who the relevant staff are to contact in regard to complaints, emergencies, incidents and other important queries including how to actually contact them if and when necessary.
- Correct way to use equipment both in the course of regular work and in the case of emergencies
- First aid qualifications and knowledge, including both first aid that is unique to the site as well first aid in general.
- All checklists need to include the employee's name, start date, position within the company, who the manger or supervisor is and the name of the department.
- They also require the name and signature of the person who conducted the checklist and a space for the details of an induction review to be conducted at a later date.

The important details to remember when creating a safety induction checklist is to consider the areas of safety that is required at your worksite, no matter how small they may seem including those areas that are possibly unique to your workplace or at least those that are not that common.

Checklists provide a way to make sure that all important areas have been addressed so that the site is safe for your new employees as well as existing ones. It helps to remind or alert them to the potential dangers present at the site and make sure that they are prepared to work effectively and productively (within the safety parameters, of course).

Try building a safety checklist

Try out our induction checklist creator and try designing your own check list online right here