Knowledge base
Practical guides to occupational risk assessment and workplace accidents, occupational hygiene and chemicals, technical safety, training and EHS culture, and lone worker protection.
Every article in the VIMS knowledge base comes from real deployments at Varilo customers and describes the process from the point of view of the person who runs it: the EHS specialist, the quality manager, the maintenance lead, or the board member accountable for compliance. Nothing here is written purely for search engines — each guide ends with the decisions you need to make and links to the modules where the process is actually carried out.
Guides are grouped into five areas. Pick an area to see only the related articles.
Most plants record events correctly and analyse them reasonably well. The problem comes later: the analysis ends in a report, the action ends in an email, and the risk assessment stays exactly as it was before the event.
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Read the guideThe question “how often should we update the risk assessment” is almost always the wrong one. The right question is: what had to change for the existing assessment to stop describing reality.
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Read the guideSafety data sheets are rarely the problem in themselves. The problem is that nobody knows how many substances are really on site, who ordered them, or whether the sheet in the binder matches the version of the product standing in the store.
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Read the guideNobody abandons spreadsheets because they look bad. They abandon them because, two days before an audit, three people are reconstructing which version of the file is the right one.
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An auditor is not looking for a thick binder. They are looking for evidence that what the procedures say actually happens on the shop floor — and that the organisation learns when something goes wrong.
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Few people fill in a form. Almost everyone will talk at the machine — if they know nobody is looking for someone to blame and that the problem they raise will actually be fixed.
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Read the guideIn lone working the greatest danger is often not the incident itself but the time that passes before anyone knows about it. We explain what regulations expect, how to build an alarm procedure and how to choose between a dedicated device and a phone app.
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A guide for maintenance, safety and production managers: how to prepare a LOTO card for a specific machine, how to isolate energy in 6 steps, which devices fit which energy sources and how to organise LOTO when several crews work together.
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Read the guideThe method is not the goal. A good assessment can be repeated, separates risks well enough to set priorities and ends with concrete actions, not just a number in a table.
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Read the guideA guide for EHS, maintenance, facility managers and contractor coordinators: when a permit is needed, who issues and signs it, a safe 5-step workflow and how a digital PTW differs from a paper pad.
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Read the guideA guide for safety professionals, investigation teams, managers and quality departments: how post-accident investigation works, why near misses are worth investigating, how to run 5 Why and Ishikawa step by step and how to close the analysis with CAPA actions.
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Read the guideOne floor plan can support EHS, fire protection, maintenance, quality and contractors. The essentials are current data, readable layers and approved sources — not coloured areas drawn by guesswork.
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Read the guideLooking for safety software, a mobile safety app or a full EHS system? Before you compare vendors, work through the 11 questions worth asking before buying — whether you run a small company, a manufacturing plant or safety across several locations.
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Well-placed codes cut the path from spotting a problem to reporting it from minutes to seconds, and provide hard evidence that an inspection took place at a specific spot.
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Read the guideThe most dangerous part of lone work is not the incident itself but the time that passes before anyone knows about it.
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Read the guideIn an Ex zone an ordinary phone is out of the question. In warehouses, field work and rounds, dedicated hardware is often overkill.
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A worker who feels tracked will switch the app off. A worker who understands that location is used only to rescue them will use it.
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Read the guideThis guide answers the procedural questions: when to measure first, how often to repeat, who may measure and which records to keep. Noise, vibration and dust limits are covered in a separate guide.
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Read the guideThis guide covers what to do with a result: reading thresholds, selecting protectors and choosing measures. Measurement deadlines and frequency are covered in our separate guide on workplace exposure measurements.
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Read the guideThis guide sets out training types, intervals per job group and permitted forms, including e-learning. Finally, we show how to keep track of deadlines across dozens or hundreds of employees.
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Read the guideA step-by-step guide: how to time tasks, how to calculate expenditure from the tables, which thresholds Polish regulations use and how this differs from online calorie calculators (BMR, TDEE).
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Read the guideThis guide shows how to read a ladder's rating plate, what an inspection checklist should cover and how to build a record that stands up to an audit — without a binder full of slips.
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Read the guideThis guide explains what a load notice must show, how the colour damage classification works, who may inspect racking and how to document checks so they stand up to inspectors and insurers.
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Read the guideThis guide shows how often extinguishers and hydrants are serviced, what to read on the nameplate, what an interim checklist should cover and how to keep a register that survives dozens of fire points.
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Read the guideThis guide explains what technical supervision requires, what the operator should check before every shift, how to read the capacity plate and how to keep a register that links examinations, repairs and defect reports.
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Read the guideThe abbreviations that circulate daily in safety and quality documentation — LMRA, CAPA, SDS, MOC, LOTO, PDCA, occupational exposure limits — explained concisely, without jargon, with a pointer to where they live in the system.
LMRA — last minute risk assessment
A short check of actual conditions carried out by the crew immediately before starting a task.
CAPA — corrective and preventive action
A structured set of actions that removes the cause of a problem and stops it from returning.
5 Why analysis
A technique for reaching a root cause by repeatedly asking why something happened.
SDS — safety data sheet
A sixteen-section document describing hazards, controls and handling for a chemical product.
MOC — management of change
A formal route for assessing and approving technical, organisational and process changes before they go live.
Permit to work
Written authorisation to carry out high-risk work once defined conditions are met.
Near miss
An event that could have caused harm but resulted in no injury or damage.
PDCA — Deming cycle
A four-phase improvement cycle: plan, do, check, act.
Occupational exposure limits
Threshold values for harmful agents: chemical and dust concentrations, and physical intensities.
LOTO — lockout/tagout
A procedure for isolating, locking and tagging energy sources before work on equipment.
VIMS EHS — integrated safety management system
VIMS EHS at v-ims.pl is modular software for occupational safety, EHS and QHSE management.
QR code in safety
A 2D code read by a phone camera that opens a form or information linked to a location.
NFC tag
A chip read by holding a phone close, used e.g. to confirm presence at an inspection point.
GHS / CLP — hazard pictograms
The chemical classification and labelling system with nine red-bordered pictograms.
Accident report (Polish protocol)
The investigation team's document establishing the circumstances and causes of a work accident.
Root cause analysis
Identifying the deeper, systemic causes of an event, not just its immediate trigger.
Occupational risk assessment
A mandatory assessment of workstation hazards and selection of risk controls.
ATEX zones
Classification of places where explosive atmospheres may occur: gas 0/1/2, dust 20/21/22.
Lone working
Work performed without direct contact with others, requiring specific safety measures.
Person responsible for storage equipment safety
The appointed person overseeing the condition and safe use of warehouse racking under EN 15635.
UDT — Polish technical inspection
Polish state supervision of technical equipment such as forklifts, lifting platforms and cranes.
Pre-use check
A short inspection by the user before starting work, e.g. of a ladder or a forklift.
Register of harmful agents
The employer's record of test and measurement results for harmful agents in the workplace (Polish requirement).
Lehmann method
An estimation method for a worker's energy expenditure based on timing and reference tables.
Workstation instruction
The part of initial OSH training delivered at the specific workstation before a worker starts (Polish requirement).
Man Down — fall and no-motion detection
A function that detects a possible fall or prolonged inactivity and triggers an alarm.
ISO 45001 — OH&S management system
The international standard for occupational health and safety management system requirements.
EHS, OHS, SHE and QHSE — the differences
Names for safety management scopes: from occupational health and safety to integrated quality, health, safety and environment.
Work accident
A sudden event caused by an external factor, resulting in injury or death, connected with work.
Residual risk
The risk that remains after control measures are applied.
Hierarchy of controls
The order of selecting measures: elimination, substitution, engineering, administrative, PPE.
Induction and periodic OHS training
Mandatory worker training: induction before starting work and periodic refresher training.
Occupational medical examinations
Pre-employment, periodic and follow-up examinations confirming fitness for work.
CMR substances
Carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances.
UFI code and PCN notification
A 16-character identifier of a hazardous mixture, linking the label to poison centre data.
LTIFR and TRIR
Accident frequency rates calculated per hours worked.
Fire safety instruction (IBP)
A Polish document describing a building's fire protection conditions and what to do in a fire.
BBS — behaviour-based safety
A programme of observations and conversations about safe and unsafe behaviour at work.
Just Culture
An approach where reporting errors is not punished, while reckless conduct has consequences.
Data protection impact assessment
An analysis of risks to individuals' rights before high-risk data processing begins.
Check-in (lone worker)
A regular confirmation by a lone worker that they are safe.
In a demo we walk through one real report: recording the event, analysing the causes, launching the corrective action and updating the risk assessment.
