How I Set Up the Opening Safety Check Template with Customers in Pilla
I've lost count of the number of times I've walked into a site for a morning visit and found staff already working with the lights on and the coffee machine running, but nobody had actually checked the building. The fire exit at the back was still chained from the night before. A pool of water from a leaking pipe was spreading across the storeroom floor. Once, at a hotel in Manchester, I arrived to find a window smashed from an overnight attempted break-in and the opening manager hadn't noticed because they came in through the staff entrance and went straight to the office.
The opening check is supposed to be the gate. Nothing happens until it's done. But in practice it's one of the most skipped checks I come across, usually because the person opening is already running late and the check feels like something they can do "as they go." That doesn't work. A structured walk-through before anyone else arrives takes five to ten minutes and catches the things that become serious problems if left until mid-morning. This article covers what the check needs to include, gives you a template you can use in Pilla, and explains how to set it up so it actually gets done every day.
Key Takeaways
- What is an opening safety check? A structured walk-through completed every day before staff begin work or customers enter, covering security, utilities, fire exits, environmental hazards, and equipment. It's the gate that decides whether your premises are safe to open
- Why do you need one? The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 requires employers to provide a safe workplace. Premises sit empty overnight and things change: pipes burst, equipment fails, intruders cause damage. The opening check catches those problems before anyone is put at risk
- How do you set it up in Pilla? Use the work template below, set it as a recurring daily activity, and assign it to whoever opens the premises each day
- How do you automate the follow-up? Set up Poppi to chase if the check hasn't been completed by a set time, notify managers of any failed results, and flag patterns in recurring issues
Article Content
Understanding What's Required of You
Your premises sit empty for hours overnight. In that time, pipes can burst, equipment can fail, intruders can break in, and pests can enter. The opening safety check verifies that the building is safe before anyone starts work or customers walk through the door.
There's no specific regulation that says "you must do an opening check." But the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 places a general duty on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of employees. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require you to assess risks and put arrangements in place to manage them. A daily premises check before occupancy is one of the most practical ways to meet both duties.
Fire safety legislation is more explicit. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires that fire exits are unlocked and escape routes are clear during occupied hours. That means someone needs to check them before the building is occupied. I've seen businesses fined for fire exits that were still chained at 10am because the closing team locked them the night before and the opening team didn't check.
From an HSE inspector's perspective, what they care about is whether you have a system. If someone slips on a water leak that developed overnight and you can show that a structured check was completed that morning and the leak wasn't present at that point, your position is much stronger than if you have no check at all and no record of what the building looked like when you opened.
The check itself should be a walk-through of the entire premises, not a clipboard exercise done from the office. I tell every business the same thing: if you didn't physically walk to the fire exit and push the bar, you didn't check it. If you didn't walk into the storeroom, you didn't check for leaks. The whole point is to use your eyes, your ears, and your nose before anyone else is in the building.
Setting It Up as a Work Activity
I've built an opening safety check template in Pilla covering security and break-in indicators, doors and windows, alarm systems, lighting and electrical, water leaks, gas supply, environmental hazards, fire exits, floor and walkway safety, equipment status, and the overall safe-to-open decision with space for notes on issues found.
When you create the work activity, set it up as a daily recurring schedule assigned to whoever holds the opening key. Pilla will create a new instance every day so there's always a fresh check waiting. Tag it (e.g. "Opening Check" or "Daily Checks") so you can filter and report on completion across all your sites if you have more than one.
The template covers the common items, but you should add anything specific to your operation. If you have external terraces, add a line for checking those. If you have a walk-in freezer that's prone to icing up, add it. If your building has a roof terrace or car park, those need checking too. Delete anything that doesn't apply. The check should match your premises, not a generic list.
1. Opening safety checks
This is the main walk-through. Each item gets ticked if satisfactory. Anything you can't tick needs attention before you open.
How I'd work through this:
Start at the point of entry and work systematically through the building. Don't skip around. The order matters less than the discipline of covering every area.
No signs of break-in or damage to premises
Look for forced entry, broken glass, disturbed items, damage to doors or windows. If you find evidence of a break-in, don't assume the intruder has left. Assess whether it's safe to enter. If there's any doubt, step back outside and call the police before touching anything.
All doors and windows secure as expected
Doors or windows found open suggest either a closing failure from the night before or unauthorised entry. Either way, investigate before proceeding. This also flags problems with your closing procedure that need addressing with the closing team.
Alarm system deactivated/reset correctly
If the alarm was already off when you arrived, or it's showing zone alerts, something may have happened overnight. Investigate the indicated zones before carrying on with the check.
Lights and electrical systems working
Turn on the lights. Check for tripped breakers. If a circuit has tripped, find out why before resetting it. A tripped breaker is a symptom, not the problem. Burning smells or equipment that won't power on need immediate attention.
No water leaks or flooding
Look for standing water, active drips, wet ceiling tiles, condensation pools near refrigeration. Water and electricity together is a serious hazard. If you find a major leak, isolate the supply before doing anything else.
Gas supply on and no smell of gas
If you smell gas on entry, do not operate any switches. No lights, no equipment, nothing that could create a spark. Open windows, leave the building, and call the gas emergency line from outside. I had a client whose opening manager smelled gas and switched on the kitchen extraction fan "to clear it." That created a spark risk. The correct response is to get out and call for help.
No unusual odours or hazards
Your nose picks up problems before your eyes do. Sewage, rotting food from a failed fridge, chemical spills, pest activity. Walk every area and pay attention to anything that smells wrong.
Fire exits unlocked and accessible
Physically go to each fire exit, push the bar, and open the door. Check that nothing is blocking the route from inside or outside. Fire exits must be unlocked before the building is occupied. This is non-negotiable and it's the item I find failed most often, usually because the closing team chained them and the opening team assumed they'd been sorted.
Walkways and floors safe (no overnight spills)
Check for condensation near fridges, spills from overnight cleaning, debris fallen from shelves. Wet floors first thing in the morning catch people out because they're not expecting them.
Equipment operational and ready for service
Check that refrigeration is running and at temperature. If a fridge failed overnight, you've got a food safety emergency on your hands. Check ventilation, key cooking equipment, and anything critical to your operation. Early detection gives you time to respond before service.
Common mistakes I see:
Rushing through the check because you're running late. The check exists precisely for the mornings when things have gone wrong overnight. If you skip it because you're short on time, you're most likely to miss the problems that cost you the most.
Doing the check "as you go" rather than as a dedicated walk-through. Once you start other tasks, your attention splits and items get missed. I've seen managers start prepping while "also doing the check," then tick off fire exits they never physically visited.
Assuming the closing team did their job. Verify, don't assume. The opening check is independent of whatever happened the night before.
2. Premises safe to open?
This is the gate decision. Yes means all checks are satisfactory and the building is safe for occupancy. No means something needs fixing before you open.
What I'd want to see when reviewing this:
A clear yes or no with no grey area. If you answered no to any item in the walk-through, this should be no until the issue is resolved. Some issues allow a partial opening, closing off one area while opening the rest. But certain things are absolute: fire exits locked means you don't open. Gas smell means you evacuate. Active water creating electrical hazards means you isolate and wait.
The person completing this check needs the authority to delay opening. If your opening key holder is a junior team member who feels pressured to open on time regardless, the check becomes meaningless. I'd always assign this to someone senior enough to make the call and be supported in it.
3. Issues found
Record what was found, what you did about it, and what follow-up is needed.
What good notes look like:
"Minor water pooling near walk-in fridge, condensation issue. Mopped up before opening. Added to maintenance list for engineer to check door seal."
"Rear fire exit was still chained. Chain removed. Spoke with closing supervisor about exit procedures."
"Strong gas smell on entry. Did not proceed with opening. Building evacuated. Emergency gas service called. Awaiting clearance."
Common mistakes I see:
Not recording issues that were resolved. If you found the fire exit chained and unchained it, that still needs documenting. The record shows the pattern. If the same exit is chained every Monday, you've got a closing procedure problem that needs a systemic fix, not just a daily unchaining.
Vague notes like "all fine" when issues were found and fixed. Be specific about location, what the problem was, and what action you took. These records matter if there's ever an incident and someone asks what your morning check process looks like.
Automate the Follow-Up with Poppi
Setting up the check is one thing. Making sure it actually gets completed every morning is another. Poppi can handle the chasing so you don't have to.
If you set the work activity up on a daily schedule, Poppi will track whether it's been completed each day. You can set up automations to chase the assigned person if it hasn't been done by a set time, notify managers when the result is a fail, and get a regular report showing completion rates and any gaps.
Here are three automations I'd set up for any daily safety check:
Tom, you have 2 overdue policies to read and acknowledge
Overdue training reminders
Automatically chase team members who have mandatory policies they haven't read yet. Poppi sends the reminder so you don't have to.
Tom, you have 2 overdue policies to read and acknowledge
Emma has completed a mandatory policy
Video completion alerts
Get notified when a team member finishes reading or watching a policy, so you can track progress without chasing.
Emma has completed a mandatory policy
Training Report: 87% team completion. Tom and Sarah behind on 2 mandatory policies, due 3 days ago.
Training gap analysis
Get a regular AI report showing which team members are behind on mandatory policies and where the gaps are across your team.
Training Report: 87% team completion. Tom and Sarah behind on 2 mandatory policies, due 3 days ago.