Have you just received a PIN or IN notice from WorkSafe on one of your building sites? Or do you want to be prepared with what to do if you ever get one, or better still know what to do to minimise your chances of getting one?

The following tips outline the recommended course of action in case you have an IN notice to deal with. Too much to deal with right now? Give the team at Nailed It Safety Solutions a call.

Read the notice carefully, what was the real concern?

Make sure you understand why you have been served with the notice and what needs fixing. You don’t want to miss the point and then cop a fine because you misunderstood the notice and acted according to a faulty understanding of the problem. Understanding the concern is also an opportunity for you to be proactive in terms of going above and beyond.

Be proactive in your response and highlight any additional actions that you take

It is easy, when issued with a notice, to simply fulfill the minimum requirements. In the short term this may be sufficient to avoid any prosecution. However, if you take further steps to improve the situation above what is legally required, you will show WorkSafe that you are genuinely concerned about your team’s safety.

Basically, you should take the IN notice as an opportunity to fix the cracks in your system and not resent it. In your response to WorkSafe, acknowledge the problem and inform them what you are going to do to fix the stated concern. Highlight further steps you plan to take beyond the legal requirements.

Conduct an internal incident investigation into the matter

Is the health and safety problem a long-term issue? What is the root cause of the issue? Look into the recent decisions and actions that have been made and carried out onsite. This will help you learn from past mistakes and make it easier to avoid having the same thing happen again.

Prepare for another visit from Worksafe

Due to being caught in violation by WorkSafe, you are now on their radar. This means they may well investigate any other sites you are responsible for, because if they catch an infringement on one site, they will have good reason to suspect that the same problems might exist within your other sites. You should have a good grasp of the problem by now.

Therefore, you can investigate your other sites and see if you can spot similar issues. This is another opportunity to be proactive. Put the same corrective measures into place on all your sites. Then you can show Worksafe how you have taken the problems pointed out on the IN notice to heart and applied the necessary remedial action. If they don’t come round immediately you will still have fixed the problem for when you are checked in the future and more importantly you can gain a competitive advantage by showing your clients that you take fixing issues related to health and safety seriously.

Consider engaging specialist help and support

Nailed It Safety Solutions is the Health and Safety for Construction experts. We offer a free initial consultation to get a general overview of your specific situation. We can then visit your site and advise you on steps to take as a result of your IN notice and conduct an investigation into how the problem came about. Give us a call today!