At worksites where shifts follow one another, such as in manufacturing, construction, and transport, the short window when the person in charge of pre-shift alcohol checks changes can become a weak point. The check flow breaks if the outgoing shift has people whose checks are not finished and the incoming shift does not know about them, or if the incoming person receives the breathalyzer but not the information about device errors and people waiting. Here, an alcohol check means the operation of confirming the test results of people arriving for work or about to start work or driving, and linking any necessary follow-up actions according to the procedure the worksite has set.
What matters in shift operations is not treating the handover of the test equipment and the handover of each person's unfinished case as the same thing. Even if the device's power and error status are normal, the handover is not complete if the incoming person does not know who has not yet finished their check and what to do next. Staffing that prevents gaps starts with allowing time for both people to check the details together and leaving information that lets the next person continue the work right away.
Hand over equipment and unfinished cases separately
At shift change, it is better to have an overlap period when the outgoing and incoming people check things at the same time. When the next person only reads the log after the previous person has left, people waiting who are not in the log, or problems passed on only verbally, are easily missed. More important than the length of the overlap is whether someone is assigned to check the equipment status and someone to check each person's progress.
In the equipment handover, check whether the incoming person is ready to start testing. This covers items to check immediately, such as whether the breathalyzer is usable, any error shown on the screen, power status, and the consumables needed for the work. The handover of unfinished cases, on the other hand, checks whether anyone is waiting to be tested, whether a re-check procedure is in progress, and whether there are facts to pass on to the site supervisor.
If you bundle the two into a single signature, someone may look only at the equipment and miss the handling of people. It is better to separate the mark that the equipment handover is done from the mark that unfinished cases have been taken over. Separating the lists for routine checks of people who arrive just before the shift change and cases left over from the previous shift also makes it easier for the incoming person to decide which task to continue first.
Reconcile who remains before counting who finished
The number of completed checks shows overall progress but does not reveal the risk of omissions. The incoming person should not stop at hearing how many people are done but should take over by reconciling each unfinished case against the list and the original records, one by one. If there are people waiting who are not on the list, cases with no next action, or cases without an assigned person, do not mark the shift change as completed normally.
Rather than copying lots of personal information into the handover sheet, write it so the next action is visible. For example, "in progress" alone does not tell anyone who will do what and when. The next shift will not stall only if the sheet links where the original record can be found, the current stage, the last instruction given, the next check time, and the person taking over.
| What to review before shift change | What to record | What the incoming person does |
|---|---|---|
| Test equipment | Whether it is usable and any confirmed errors | Recheck its status before starting work |
| Unfinished cases | Current stage and next action | Reconcile with the original record and continue the procedure |
| People waiting | Reason for waiting and how to find where they are | Find the person and resume the check or pass on the necessary facts |
| Records | Where the original records are kept and what they cover | Continue writing new records without mixing them with existing ones |
If the same person works consecutive shifts or start times overlap, also look for duplicates in the roster. If the same person is created as a new case, the earlier instructions and check process can split apart. Conversely, to avoid linking different people into one case, you need to cross-check not only names but also the shift and the time of the check.
A gap in the next action, seen in a hypothetical case
For instance, suppose the night-shift person ran a re-check procedure for a worker just before the shift change, but the day-shift person does not know where that worker is waiting. The record says only "re-check needed," with no time of the last instruction and no next action. Even though the test equipment was handed over in good order, the handling of that person has stopped.
What to observe here is not whether a re-check is needed but that the incoming person has no information to find the original record and the person and start the procedure. One possible action is to record for that case the information that identifies it, its current stage, the last instruction given, the time of the next check or contact, and the person taking over. The completion criterion is that the incoming person can find the person and the original record without further explanation and can actually start the next procedure the worksite has set.
In this case, you can record separately the shift in which the case first arose and the person who actually closed it. This is not to tally who did more work but to avoid mixing up when a task arose and when it was handled in the next day's totals. If the same case repeats across several shifts, it also gives grounds to examine whether this is a simple delay or whether handling authority or a contact channel is missing.
When the incoming person is late, set a temporary coverage flow
Even with a planned overlap, the incoming person may not arrive on time because of absence, traffic delays, or a sudden site response. Relying only on the outgoing person staying on indefinitely stops other work and blurs the scope of responsibility. You therefore need to decide in advance who temporarily takes over intake when a shift change is delayed, who decides whether operations continue, and when the work is handed back to the official person in charge.
If a temporary person takes over, also confirm that the breathalyzer and the means of accessing the original records were actually handed over. If any one of the equipment, the key or access rights to the storage location, or the storage location of the records is missing, it is hard to mark the handover as complete. Records written by the temporary person should be kept with their time range marked, and when the official person arrives, the list of unfinished cases should be reconciled again.
You can also have a procedure for passing the necessary facts to the person responsible for decisions such as site work or vehicle dispatch for people whose checks are not finished. This does not mean the person running alcohol checks decides work assignments or whether someone can drive on their own. They pass on the fact that the check is unfinished and the status of the procedure, and the follow-up decision should follow the authority structure the worksite has set.
Fix repeated omissions through staffing and record-keeping
If omissions at shift change keep recurring in the alcohol check process, you can examine them as a risk factor in the operating process rather than writing them off as individual mistakes. Article 36 of Korea's Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to identify hazards and risk factors arising from work, assess the risks, and establish and implement improvement measures to prevent danger or health impairment. Problems such as unfinished people dropping off the list at every shift change or device errors not being passed to the next shift can be subjects for reviewing staffing and record procedures.
When you make improvements, you do not need to keep adding items to the handover sheet. It is better to fix the actual point of omission: if handling was delayed because nobody knew where a waiting person was, add a way to confirm their location; if error reports were missed, add a field for checking equipment status. You can reduce handover gaps by defining completion of a shift change not by whether it was signed but by confirming the equipment status, the unfinished list, and who owns each next action.
