Operational risk

Able Managing Director, Myles Cook, explains why failed safety inspections can point to wider issues in maintenance, record keeping and day-to-day oversight

Most failed safety inspections are treated as one-off problems. Something hasn’t passed, it gets repaired or taken out of use, and everyone moves on. That deals with the immediate issue, but it often misses what actually matters.

When equipment fails inspection, it is usually not the first time something has gone wrong. More often, it is the first time it has been properly picked up.

IT’S RARELY JUST THE EQUIPMENT

A failed inspection might come down to something simple. A worn part, a missing guard, a service that has been missed. On its own, that does not look like a bigger problem. But when you step back, the question becomes obvious. How long has that been like that?

In most cases, the issue has been there for a while. It just has not been spotted, reported or followed up. That is where the real risk sits.

MAINTENANCE DOESN’T ALWAYS WORK AS INTENDED

Most sites have some form of planned maintenance. Schedules are in place, checks are logged, and everything looks covered on paper. The problem is the way in which these checks are carried out.

When things get busy, maintenance can become routine. Jobs are done to keep things moving rather than to properly assess condition. Small issues get noted but not chased. Sometimes they are not written down at all.

Over time, you end up with a gap between what the records say and what is really happening on site. Inspections tend to expose that gap.

RESPONSIBILITY CAN BE UNCLEAR

In many buildings, responsibility for equipment is shared without being clearly defined. One team uses it. Another maintains it. Someone else is responsible for compliance. In theory, that should work. In practice, it often leads to assumptions.

Staff assume faults will be picked up during maintenance. Maintenance teams assume faults will be reported. Managers assume both are happening. That is how problems sit for longer than they should.

By the time an inspection comes around, the issue has already been missed several times.

RECORDS DON’T ALWAYS REFLECT REALITY

Inspection failures often raise questions about record keeping. It is not unusual to see maintenance records showing that everything has been checked and signed off, only for an inspection to highlight something that clearly isn’t right.

That does not always come down to poor practice. Sometimes it is just the result of time pressure, or systems that focus more on completion than detail. Either way, it creates a false sense of security. If the records say everything is fine, but the equipment tells a different story, something is off.

One failed inspection can be a one-off. A series of similar failures usually isn’t. If the same types of issues keep coming up, or if problems are concentrated in one area, there is normally a reason for it. It might be how maintenance is being carried out. It might be how faults are reported. It might be a lack of clarity over who is responsible. These patterns are often easy to spot once you start looking for them, but they are just as easy to miss if each failure is treated on its own.

FIXING THE ISSUE ISN’T THE END

Getting equipment back into service is always the priority. But stopping there means the same problem can come back again.

A better approach is to take a step back and ask a few simple questions.

• Should this have been picked up earlier?
• Was it reported before the inspection?
• Are checks being carried out properly?
• Do the records reflect what is actually happening?
• Is it happening anywhere else?

You don’t need a full investigation every time, but you do need to look beyond the immediate fault.

SMALL GAPS ADD UP

Most inspection failures don’t come from major breakdowns. They come from small things that have been missed, ignored or delayed. On their own, they don’t seem serious. But over time, those small gaps start to build. That is when inspections begin to pick them up.

A failed inspection is not just a compliance issue. It is a signal. It shows where something in the day-to-day running of the building isn’t working as well as it should. If you treat it as just another job to fix, you deal with the symptom. If you look at why it happened in the first place, you deal with the cause. That is where the real value is.