Knowella

Leadership Safety Walk

A senior leader spends time in the workplace talking with workers about how the work really goes. Run monthly per leader. Carried out by managers and executives. Measured on conversations held and actions taken, not on faults found.

KnowSafeInspectionSAF-043Pinned in navigation
Completed by
Carried out by managers and executives
Raised
On the inspection frequency set in your programme, and aga

Summary

In short

  • A leadership safety walk is an inspection used in KnowSafe that a senior leader spends time in the workplace talking with workers about how the work really goes. It is built against ISO 45001 cl.5.1 and forms part of the Safety Culture and Engagement programme.
  • Run monthly per leader. Carried out by managers and executives.
  • The template holds 24 fields across 4 sections, with conversations repeating for each entry.
  • Scoring is completion and action count, where high is good.
  • ISO 45001 is occupational health and safety management systems. The international standard for managing worker health and safety. Certifiable, and the backbone of most of this library.
  • It connects to the rest of the library: feeds CAPA.

What it is

What it is

What is a leadership safety walk?

A leadership safety walk is an inspection used in KnowSafe that a senior leader spends time in the workplace talking with workers about how the work really goes. It is built against ISO 45001 cl.5.1 and forms part of the Safety Culture and Engagement programme.

When is a leadership safety walk completed?

A leadership safety walk is completed on the inspection frequency set in your programme, and again after any change to the asset or area. Run monthly per leader.

When to use it

When to use it, and when not to

This inspection is one step in a larger programme. Using it for work that belongs to a neighbouring template produces records that are hard to report on later.

Use it for

  • The event or activity this inspection covers has occurred, or is about to
  • A new record is needed; each one gets its own ID in the form OBS-2026-000
  • You are running the Safety Culture and Engagement programme and this is one of its steps
  • A linked record needs this one to exist: feeds capa

Not for

  • Safety Observation, which a short record of how a task was actually done, noting both safe practice and risk.
  • Behaviour Based Observation, which looks at a specific set of behaviours agreed with the workforce, such as line of fire, body position and tool use.
  • Safety Coaching Record, which records a coaching conversation after an at risk practice was seen.
  • Anything outside KnowSafe, which belongs in the workspace that owns that process

Standards

What it is built against

ISO 45001Occupational health and safety management systems

The international standard for managing worker health and safety. Certifiable, and the backbone of most of this library.

ISOInternational Organization for Standardization

A voluntary international standard. Widely adopted, often required by customers, and certifiable where a management system standard.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the leadership safety walk template based on?+

It is built against ISO 45001 cl.5.1. ISO 45001 is occupational health and safety management systems. The international standard for managing worker health and safety. Certifiable, and the backbone of most of this library. ISO is international Organization for Standardization. A voluntary international standard. Widely adopted, often required by customers, and certifiable where a management system standard.

What sections does the leadership safety walk contain?+

There are 4 sections: header, purpose, conversations, result. Together they hold 24 fields, 17 of which are required.

How often is a leadership safety walk raised?+

A new record is raised on the inspection frequency set in your programme, and again after any change to the asset or area. Each one is given an ID in the form OBS-2026-000, so it can be traced and referenced from other records.

Which programme does the leadership safety walk belong to?+

It is part of Safety Culture and Engagement. A measured culture position, with interventions matched to the maturity level you actually have.

How is a leadership safety walk scored?+

Scoring is completion and action count. High is good. Scores exist to make the form tell you something, not to produce a percentage for its own sake.

Can the leadership safety walk template be changed?+

Yes. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it. Most teams install it as it is, run it for a cycle, then adjust.

The agents

What the agents do with it

The form is the easy part. Keeping it current, routing it to the right owner and holding the evidence together is the work that actually slips.

KnowSafe

Holds the leadership safety walk library against your registers, routes each record to its owner, and keeps the evidence trail together.

Ella

Coordinates the crew, rolls completion and exceptions into one view, and holds every write for your approval before it touches a record.

This template lives in KnowSafesafety and compliance. Incidents, hazards, permits, inspections and the critical controls behind them.

Meet KnowSafe

Sources

Sources

  • ISO 45001 — Occupational health and safety management systems
  • ISO — International Organization for Standardization

KnowSafe

Also in Observations

6Browse the whole library
Inspection

Safety Observation

A short record of how a task was actually done, noting both safe practice and risk. Run as often as your programme sets, usually weekly per supervisor. Carried out by anyone trained to observe. Focused on the work, and always ends with a conversation.

Inspection

Behaviour Based Observation

Looks at a specific set of behaviours agreed with the workforce, such as line of fire, body position and tool use. Run on a set frequency. Carried out by trained peer observers. Results are reported by behaviour, never by named individual.

Record

Safety Coaching Record

Records a coaching conversation after an at risk practice was seen. Completed straight after the conversation. Carried out by the supervisor. Kept short and constructive, because the point is to change the work, not to build a file on a person.

Inspection

Critical Task Observation

Watches a high risk task from start to finish against its procedure. Run on a set schedule for each critical task. Carried out by a competent observer. Differences between the written procedure and the real work are the most useful thing this finds.

Inspection

Peer Observation

Workers observe each other and give feedback directly, with no supervisor involved. Run as part of a peer programme. Carried out by trained workers. Consistently produces higher reporting rates than supervisor led observation.

Review

Observation Trend Review

Pulls together observation results over a period to show what is really happening across the site. Run monthly or quarterly. Carried out by the safety lead with the committee. Turns a pile of individual observations into a small number of things worth fixing.

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