What is a Take 5 Safety Checklist?
A take 5 safety checklist is a tool used to identify health and safety hazards before starting work on a site. Performing health and safety checks using the take 5 procedure (Stop, Look, Assess, Control, and Monitor) helps workers and contractors mitigate exposure to hazards and health risks. The 5-minute safety inspection should take place to prevent any accidents, injuries, or near misses.
How to Complete a Take 5 for Safety Check
Conducting a take 5 safety check is a straightforward approach to help workers, contractors, and safety professionals ensure that the job to be done is safe to implement by proactively identifying the risks involved and their likelihood to happen.
Here are the 5 steps involved in the take 5 safety procedure, and some real-life examples of how each step can be undertaken.
1. Stop and think about the potential dangers associated with the job.
Some questions that you can ask yourself during the inspection or a take 5 safety check are the following:
- Do I clearly understand what is required?
- Am I trained to do the work and familiar with the equipment/task?
- Are the tools and equipment in a safe condition?
- Do I have approved documentation for the task?
- Have I informed others who may be affected by my work?
- Do I have the correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the task (identified in the risk assessment/method statement)?
Sample Report for the Stop section
2. Look and identify any hazards.
Follow these steps when filling out this part of your take 5 safety checklist or template:
- List the type of hazard you’ve identified.
- Create corrective or preventive actions.
- Take or attach photo evidence of the identified hazard.
- Describe the hazard.
Sample Report for the Look section
3. Assess the risk; consider any possible threats of damage or injury.
Now that you’ve identified the hazards, you must also assess the risks involved in such hazards. For this section of the template, you can do the following:
- Set an action priority based on the hazard’s risk level (Extreme Risk, High Risk, Medium, or Low Risk).
- Add notes for further instructions or actions.
- Identify the hazard’s likelihood level (Rare, Unlikely, Possible, Likely, or Almost Certain).
Sample Report for the Assess section
4. Control hazards by implementing suitable control measures to reduce risk.
In this section, describe the most appropriate or recommended control measures that you or the respective team members/personnel should take. The description must be specific and assigned accordingly.
Sample Report for the Control section
5. Monitor hazards to successfully mitigate the likelihood of injuries or damages.
Hazard identification is only the first step toward ensuring and improving safety on the job site. Hence, the continuous implementation of control measures and monitoring actions are a must. This section must be used to specify or summarize what kind of next steps should be taken.
Sample Report for the Monitor section
What to Include in a Take 5 Safety Checklist
To guide you better in creating and using a take 5 safety checklist, here are the basic details and sections you must include:
- Title Page – briefly discusses the task, location, and date of the conducted take 5 safety check
- Stop Section – guide questions that tackle the potential dangers or hazards you may encounter during the task
- Look Section – where hazards on the job site are identified.
- Assess Section – where the hazards’ risk levels are analyzed and set
- Control Section – recommended control measures to address risks and hazards
- Monitor Section – established protocols for monitoring if control measures are implemented and effective
- Completion – section for the worker and supervisor to sign off the take 5 safety check
FAQs About Take 5 Safety
Take 5 in safety, especially in the context of workplace, is the process of pausing a task and taking a five-minute assessment to identify potential hazards and risks that come along with it. Take 5 also typically involves five steps which are stop, look, assess, control, and proceed.
Workers and contractors are typically the ones who conduct take 5 safety checks. Doing this helps them ensure that they can mitigate the risks that may be involved in their work. Apart from that, this safety measure is also crucial to identifying health and safety hazards and proactively addressing them.
Conduct a take 5 safety check either before starting any task or while doing it, though the former approach is more encouraged and effective. Using a checklist in this process is essential to help you cover everything you need and avoid overlooking things that can put your health and safety at risk while working.
Every time a new task or job is about to start, a take 5 safety check should be done. Another instance when this is applicable is when there are changes in the job conditions specific to an operational area (which must be defined by the site or project manager).
Jairus Andales