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    Planned Task Observation (PTO) Form and Register

    A planned task observation (PTO) records a supervisor watching an employee do a task against the written procedure: each step done as written or not, the critical controls in place, and what was coached or must change. It is the evidence that work is supervised and that procedures match how the work is really done.

    On the schedule your site sets for each supervisor, often weekly or monthly, and also for a new employee, after an incident, or when a high-risk task is done for the first time.

    Legal basis checked 26 October 2026

    A supervisor in a hard hat writing on a clipboard while a worker looks on, on site

    What is in the template

    The task

    • Task observed
    • Procedure or standard, and its version
    • Reason (scheduled, new employee, after an incident, high-risk task)
    • Employee told beforehand (Y/N)

    Procedure steps observed

    Columns: Step · What the procedure says · What was done · Compliant / deviation / at risk · Comment · 10 rows per page

    One row per step of the written procedure, in order. Record what was actually done, not what should have been. A deviation is not automatically wrong: note whether the practice or the procedure needs to change.

    Critical controls and PPE

    Columns: Critical control or PPE item · In place (Y/N) · Comment · 6 rows per page

    Outcome

    • What was done well
    • Coaching given on the spot
    • Does the procedure match how the task is really done? If not, what must change
    • Employee comments

    Actions

    Columns: Action · Owner · Due date · Closed (date) · 4 rows per page

    Sign-off

    • Observer: signature and date
    • Employee: signature and date
    • Section head or manager: reviewed, signature and date

    How to fill it in

    1. 1Pick the task from the PTO schedule and have the current procedure in hand before you start.
    2. 2Tell the employee they are being observed and why: a PTO is coaching, not a trap.
    3. 3Watch the task through and record each step as it was done, with a comment wherever it differed from the procedure.
    4. 4Check the critical controls and PPE the procedure relies on, and stop and coach on the spot where something was unsafe.
    5. 5Agree actions with owners and due dates, including a procedure update where the practice was better or the procedure wrong, and have all three people sign.

    A general template, not legal advice. Check it against the Act, the regulations and the codes of practice that apply to your site, and against your own safety management system. A planned task observation is not a form the law prescribes. On a mine it is evidence of the supervision that section 10(1) of the Mine Health and Safety Act, 29 of 1996 requires and of the monitoring of the controls chosen under section 11(2); the SAQA unit standard for mining production supervisors (US 336964) lists a PTO register among a supervisor's records. Plants and construction sites use the same form to show that safe work procedures are followed.

    Legal basis checked on against: Mine Health and Safety Act, 29 of 1996, sections 10(1) and 11(2); SAQA unit standard 336964 (mining production supervisor).

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    The same record in Inspecable

    On paper the register is only as current as the last person who updated it. In Inspecable the same record keeps going:

    Do it in InspecableCorrective actionsThe longer readSection 11 of the MHSA Explained

    Questions

    What is a planned task observation?

    A supervisor watching an employee do a task against the written procedure, step by step, and recording what was done, which critical controls were in place, what was coached and what must change. Mines use it to show that work is supervised and that procedures are followed.

    How often should PTOs be done?

    As often as your site standard sets, usually a number per supervisor per week or month, so that every employee is observed on their high-risk tasks during the year. Add one after an incident, for a new employee, or when a procedure changes.

    Is a PTO a legal requirement?

    The law does not prescribe the form. On a mine it is evidence of the supervision section 10(1) of the MHSA requires and of monitoring the controls chosen under section 11(2). Kept as a register, it shows that procedures are checked against practice.

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