Most operations within Stratus involve the use of equipment of some type.  To ensure safe and reliable outcomes and deliverables, our equipment must be inspected prior to every use.  

Equipment Inspection -Inspector Qualifications and Competency

It is each of our responsibilities to maintain a safe work environment for ourselves, our coworkers, and our subcontractors.  The way we create a safe work environment is by identifying and mitigating / controlling hazards and risks, but before you can mitigate or control anything, you have to know what the “anything” is.  As the caption of our Portal states “If you don’t know what is going to happen, there is no way to stop it.”  This is where inspections become an integral part of our process in maintaining a safe work environment.  Whether at work or at play and at the most basic level, all of us constantly perform visual inspections.  We visually inspect the environment we are in looking for possible hazards.  But even at the most basic level, the competency of the person doing the inspection is important.  If you have no knowledge of certain hazards, it’s hard to recognize one.  This is where the “competency” of the inspector comes in to play.

Oftentimes, the equipment user is also the inspector.  The user inspects his own PPE, hand tools, certain aspects of power tools, vehicles, and heavy equipment.  However, there are times when the user should not be the inspector.  When do the inspection requirements move beyond the user’s capabilities?  A good example to explore this is to think about your own personal vehicle.  You, the user, inspect tires, seat belts, fluid levels, operation of lights and signals, etc.; however, if you want to check the wheel alignment or wear on the timing belt most of us defer to a professional mechanic.  We simply do not have the competency (i.e. experience, knowledge and/or training) to perform those inspections.

When it comes to equipment inspections, it is important to ensure that the inspector has the right competency to perform the inspections they are doing.  In assuring whether and inspector has the necessary competency, the following should be considered:

• Range of inspection activities (what is being inspected);
• Competence for each activity (ability to detect and evaluate defects);
• Evidence of training and assessment against the competence criteria (records and certificates)
• Authorization and monitoring of persons performing the inspections (peer or higher authority)

Stratus’ expectation is that tools and equipment are inspected by a competent person before every use.  Once we put the effort into choosing the correct tool or equipment to perform the work, we need to make sure the tools and equipment are deemed safe to use.  It is all of our responsibility to ensure safe and reliable outcomes and inspectors play a key role in that goal.