The 20-Minute Safety Walk Checklist · 8 stops · 20 minutes A Gemba walk checklist for plant managers THE 20-MINUTE SAFETY WALK BEFORE YOU WALK B E F O R E Y O U W A L K What a Gemba walk is Gemba is Japanese for "the actual place". A Gemba walk is a short, regular walk where you go to where the work happens, watch the job as it is really done, and ask the people doing it what gets in the way of doing it safely. It is not an audit. The aim is to spot problems early and fix them, not to catch people out. Why 20 minutes: short enough to do every week, long enough for one conversation at each of the 8 stops. How to run the walk H O W T O T I C K Yes In place and working No Missing or not working: log it N/A Not in this area Fixed Put right during the walk The 8 stops at a glance Stop Min Look for Typical finding 1 Production floor 3 Walkways clear and marked, dry floors, workstations set up for the job, anything new since the last walk ! Material parked in a marked walkway 2 Chemical storage and decanting 3 A current SDS for every product, labeled secondary containers, incompatibles apart, flammables in a closed cabinet or room, spill kit ready ! An unlabeled spray bottle on a bench 3 Forklift aisles 2 Pedestrian routes marked, each truck examined before use, mirrors, horns and lights working, racking undamaged ! A truck in use with no pre-use check today 4 Machine guarding 3 Guards on points of operation, nip points, belts and rotating parts, none propped open or bypassed, e-stops easy to reach ! A guard propped open to clear jams faster 5 Lockout points 2 A written procedure for the machine, isolation points labeled, locks and named tags applied by the people doing the work, a stocked station ! An isolation valve with no label 6 Housekeeping 2 Tools put away, bins not overflowing, cords and hoses off walkways, lighting bright enough for the task ! A cord trailing across a walkway 7 Exits and fire equipment 3 Exit routes clear, exit signs lit, extinguishers in place with this month's visual check, pull stations and sprinklers unblocked ! A pallet parked in front of an extinguisher 8 PPE use 2 The PPE each task needs, gloves and respirators matching SDS section 8, in good condition, with spares to hand ! Safety glasses worn on the head, not the eyes Go where the work happens. Walk during normal production, not a shutdown, so you see the job as people really do it. 1 Spend 2 to 3 minutes per stop. The minutes are a guide, not a stopwatch. Note anything that needs longer and come back. 2 Look, then ask. Tick each check Yes, No, N/A or Fixed, and use one conversation prompt at every stop. 3 Fix small things on the spot. A blocked exit or an unlabeled bottle can often be fixed straight away. Tick Fixed and still log it. 4 Log the rest with an owner and a due date. A finding without a name next to it rarely gets closed. 5 Thank people. Note what is going well too. Safe work you see is worth recording. 6 Do not turn the walk into an audit. If you are still writing after 25 minutes, you are auditing. Log what you have found and keep walking. Watch out 2 / 7