The hidden risks of paperwork
A paper cut is not the biggest risk you face from the voluminous paper you are making people fill out every day. The biggest risk you face is the real risk of death or the jail!
There is as epidemic of paperwork in the construction industry.
There are many problems with what we have allowed to happen.
More paperwork = more time spent on paperwork, the less time spent planning and managing the task.
More paperwork = more audits, the more attention to paperwork and whether it will pass the audit, the less attention on things like, the right people, the right tool, the right materials, the right task, time, supervision, peer support.
More paperwork = the more inspections and audits that cover the paperwork, the more success is judged, not on interaction, planning and execution but on paperwork compliance.
Two books that every safety professionals should read urgently.
1 - The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande - read this to work out when and how to use checklists. Warning, most of the ones you have are not adding value.
2 - Paper Safe by Greg Smith - read this one to see why you will end up in court if you are the one introducing more paperwork and checklists. Use this to help persuade others, that things need to change!