The function of workplace inspections and task observations are to find out how well an organisation is performing in relation to the standards and controls it has established. Workplace inspections and task observations are an attempt to capture problems before losses occur. The primary purpose is to proceed from analytical action; before substandard items or behaviour cause accidents and related losses. Analysis enables identification of substandard items or behaviour and their basic causes and controls: it also helps to uncover system loopholes that need to be closed. When a substandard condition, practice or behavior has been identified what in fact has been seen is the immediate cause of an accident which hasn't actually happened.
