Loss Control Inspection Checklist: Best Practices and Strategies
Business assets, whether human resources, equipment, or property, are all essential for steady growth and continuous business revenue. That is why it is essential to control the possible asset losses through various means. And this can be effectively done with the help of a loss control inspection checklist.
What is a Loss Control Inspection Checklist?
A loss control inspection checklist is a document that contains information that aids in reducing the possibility of a loss to occur. Also, the checklist is used to reduce the severity of damages in cases where the loss occurs. This document is commonly used by inspectors sent by insurance companies or government agencies.
Although it may seem that the insurance company or government agency is primarily doing the loss control inspection to prevent insurance claims, this is primarily done to reduce accidents in the workplace that can cause injury or damage to property. Also, it is better to prevent claims from happening because once an insurance claim happens, the premium usually increases too.
A loss control inspection starts with a phone call that states the date and time when the inspector will arrive. Depending on the situation, a company might voluntarily call their insurance company for an inspection, or a company was selected for a random inspection.
Upon the arrival of the inspector, an introduction meeting will be held so that the inspector will know the background of the company and other important details. Then, the inspector will then be toured around the facilities to find possible hazards. It is better for the inspector to be accompanied by someone who knows the facilities inside-out. Just in case there are any questions from the inspector, they can be answered accurately. After the tour of the facilities, another meeting will be held where the inspector will then present their findings and give recommendations for the hazards found.
Depending on the situation, the inspector might give a certain time frame where the inspected company needs to respond to the findings containing the actions done to control the hazards. Or, if the findings are too severe, the insurance company might consider increasing the premium for a very hazardous company.
So, to prevent unwanted costs from injuries, insurance claims, and increased insurance premiums, it is better to prepare for the loss control inspection.
Best Practices to Prepare for Loss Control Inspections
In order to be fully prepared for loss control inspections, below are three best practices according to the Loss Control Audit Checklist from the State of Oregon.
Apply OSHA’s Risk Assessment Toolkit
The Risk Assessment Toolkit from OSHA is designed to detect, identify, and control hazards in the workplace. And this has become an effective tool because it emphasizes the need to conduct an ongoing process of identifying and assessing hazards.
Aside from that, this risk assessment toolkit is more in-depth than what an inspector could do. Because realistically speaking, a one-time inspection won’t be able to detect all the possible risks inside the workplace. While the OSHA toolkit involves everyone, as much as possible, to collaborate and help out with risk management. Once these hazards are identified, the toolkit also provides instructions on how to prevent and control them.
So, if a company already uses OSHA’s Risk Assessment Toolkit, they will be ready for the loss control inspection since they’ve already controlled the workplace hazards. Although there might be findings, these risks can be considered very minor.
Develop a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
A business continuity plan (BCP) is a process in which a company or business creates a plan to ensure that its business operations will continue despite experiencing a disaster. And this is done by first identifying the possible risks caused by disasters and then creating a plan to remove or reduce their impact.
This is a bit similar to what a loss control inspection checklist aims to do which is to reduce the impact of a loss. So, when the company has a business continuity plan, the company representative that’s being interviewed by the inspector can easily provide information about what the company has done to reduce the impact of a loss.
Implement Preventive Maintenance
Preventive maintenance is a regularly scheduled maintenance for equipment and facilities. This is done to improve the efficiency of equipment, improve their service life, and reduce the number of equipment breakdowns.
This is in line with the goal of a loss control inspection since business interruptions, due to equipment breakdown, can be considered a loss. Also, since it also reduces the frequency of equipment breakdowns, it also prevents any loss from worker injuries.
Common Loss Control Strategies
Once the findings of the inspector are presented after the facility tour, there are six strategies that can be done to address each hazard that can cause a loss. Each of these strategies is listed below.
Loss Avoidance
The ideal response to a finding presented by the inspector is avoidance. That is because it completely removes the risk of incurring a loss. However, most of the findings during the inspection are something that can’t be removed because they can reduce revenue or cause delays in a project.
Loss Prevention
There are cases or workplaces where a certain risk is unavoidable. That is why the second response to a presented finding, when avoidance is not possible, is prevention-meaning trying to cut off a series of events that can lead to a loss. For example, the findings in the loss prevention audit checklist state that there are losses due to shoplifting. A way to prevent that is to install security cameras to try and prevent the shoplifters from gaining the courage to steal.
Loss Reduction
Reduction refers to minimizing losses by installing control measures in case a loss occurs. For example, if one of the findings of an inspector is fire risks then installing a fire protection system or putting a fire extinguisher nearby is a loss reduction strategy. And that is because once a fire occurs, there is already initial damage or loss but it is minimized or reduced once the fire protection system activates or if someone puts the fire out using the fire extinguisher.
Loss Separation
Separation is a strategy where assets get separated in order to minimize the effects of losing it all in a single incident. For example in the loss prevention checklist, the findings of the inspector indicate that a warehouse full of clothes might be at risk of loss in a fire. One way to apply loss separation is to split the number of clothes in half and then store the other half in another warehouse. Thus, removing the risk of losing it all in one incident.
Loss Duplication
Duplication is a strategy where an asset is copied and then stored for backup in case the asset gets destroyed. Usually, this strategy applies to information or data stored digitally. For example, a finding in the loss control inspection checklist indicates that the data center has no backup. Then, there is a need to duplicate the data to serve as a backup.
Loss Diversification
Diversification refers to splitting an asset into numerous channels such as projects, markets, and regions. The purpose is to prevent all of a company’s assets from being lost in a single chain of events such as a shift in the market trends or a local crisis.
How Using a Digital Loss Control Inspection Will Benefit Your Business
When it comes to your business, having a safe and secure workplace is the key element to maintaining your success. Lumiform can aid you in this with its thousands of ready-made templates that can be customized to suit your unique business. All you need is a smartphone or tablet! Whether online or offline, you and your team can collect and share data with Lumiform, all for free, and all in one place.
- Along with our helpful templates, having a business plan in place can take your safety and success up a further step. To understand this further, check out our Business Plan breakdown to see how you can reap its benefits.
- Lumiform offers 10,000 free and premade templates to choose from so that you can instantly go digital within your company.
- With the intuitive and convenient mobile app, your entire team can stay organized and on track, no matter the affair.
- All collected results are automatically summarized in a report which you can then send to members of your team.
- Comprehensive and automated analyses help you detect any potential risks and errors and allow you to concentrate on improving processes and making your business run smarter and smoother.
