The essential elements of the “CHECK” step in road safety. Road safety is broadly divided into three steps when it comes to coming to steps to achieve excellent and continuous safety. We have discussed the other two, which are PLAN and DO. The last step is CHECK, and we will be discussing it adequately in this article.
The essential element of The “PLAN” step in road safety
The CHECK step involves finding out if the processes and practices that were implemented are accomplishing intended outcomes. Checking is analyzing relevant information to determine if the controls you’ve put in place are reducing behind-the-wheel risks. Based on what you find out, the CHECK step includes looking for ways to adjust processes to improve performance and tackling emerging road safety issues. There are five elements, and they are listed below.
1. Conduct Regular Review
Regular review should be done at all times to ensure every activity is being performed in accordance with the required and standard. Annual reviews should include gathering records (e.g., vehicle inspection forms, Trip-Check submissions, incident, and near-miss reports, training records, safety meeting minutes, etc.) that are relevant to the targets you’ve set and compiling those results into simple tables, graphs, or reports that can be readily reviewed and compared. The review team should meet to analyze and discuss outcomes, compare results to targets and decide what changes and improvements need to be made.
The essential elements of the “DO” step in road safety
The outcome must always match up to expectations or near expectations. In a situation where meeting expectations is not achievable, the team will have to find out why and how it can be solved immediately. Inspect the policies, procedures, and operational practices that were applied to deliver those results, and ask if those need to be adjusted in order to achieve targets. Improper implementation needs to be adjusted. Perhaps modest targets should be upgraded or unrealistic ones right-sized.
2. Checking Implementation and Procedure
One of the reasons the PLAN stage is very important is when they need to check the procedure for implementation. Sometimes measures might not have been implemented exactly as planned, it does not mean that the targets, actions, or analysis become invalid. Instead, it is important to interpret outcomes in the context of how measures were actually applied. At times, the plan and targets need to be adjusted because they were found on incorrect or incomplete information. Because workplaces are dynamic, it is necessary for daily practices to keep pace with changing circumstances. Adapting to those changes is the right thing to do, but the organization needs to keep track of adjustments so you can properly evaluate outcomes. It is more achievable by talking to employees, reviewing documents, checking up on supervisors and managers, and checking the audit.
3. Analyse and Evaluate outputs
The main focus of the check step is to compare and contrast what was achieved and what was not. It is very important that the analysis focuses on real numbers and generates quantifiable results that committee members and management can use to see whether or not or not targets were met and to guide objective decisions on future actions. The analysis should also pay attention to understanding why those results occurred. Involving supervisors and front-line employees will help ensure the analysis includes an operational perspective.
4. Investigate accidents and near-misses.
Organizations must learn to follow up with accident and near-miss situations that occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis depending on the style which is more comfortable for the company. When a work-related crash occurs, a thorough investigation is your best opportunity to discover the factors that contributed to the incident and understand the underlying causes. Near misses provide similar learning opportunities but without damage or injuries.
5. Work on ensuring continuous improvement.
A little growth from a previous commitment should not make the organization complacent. Organizations must always be at the top of their game when it comes to continuous improvement in road safety. The use of online programs, road safety classes, and road safety manuals which help for further improvement should be available for employees to gain more understanding. Look at your successes. Understand what went right, and why it went right. Then, apply what you learn to controls you are struggling to implement. For example, if the journey management part of your safety program is so successful, what attributes can you borrow and apply to the mentoring process that’s getting underway?
With the help of the safety committee and the management team, use the information you gather from reviewing results to adjust your road safety plan and improve it. There’s usually no need to re-write your plan. The objective of continual improvement is to use feedback from employees, ideas from the safety committee, recommendations from incident investigations, and directions from the management team to build on successes and accomplish better results.
