Safety Audits
What is Safety Audit?
A safety audit checklist an organization’s health by conducting an in-depth and impartial review of its health and safety programs and processes. The safety audit report highlights the effectiveness of the safety programs of the organization as well as their reliability in ensuring a safe work environment.
Types of Safety Audits
The safety audit helps an organization evaluate its safety program, and there are three types of safety audits. These are:
- Compliance Audit – Compliance audit reviews and evaluates the organization’s compliance with all the laws and regulations related to workplace safety.
- Program Audit – It evaluates the effectiveness of a safety program, as it reviews all the safety programs and their practical implementation.
- Management Audit – It is a combination of compliance audit and program audit and simultaneously reviews the organization’s safety policies. It takes employe feedback to gain a better understanding of the safety measures and evaluates the organization’s compliance with Occupational Health and Safety Management System.
The Safety Audit Checklist
A safety audit checklist aims to detect the areas of potential risks and hazards associated with workplace safety. The safety audit checklist is as follows:-
- Evaluating compact spaces, height areas, and restricted areas.
- Review electricity, compressed air spaces, and slippery areas
- Detecting the existence of harmful gases, asbestos, dust, and airborne particles.
- Review risks associated with working around water, vehicular movement, manual handling, and overhead hazards.
- Defining risk levels in the category of likelihood, severity, and risk rating.
- Recommending control measures for common hazards and risks.
Who Needs Safety Audit Checklist
The safety audit checklist is significant for almost every organization. Because of the following reasons:
- It applies to almost every organization irrespective of size, nature, and location. The following organizations need a safety audit checklist –
– Vendors
– Manufacturers
– Retailers
– Information Technology Industry
– Educational institutions
- Helps organizations avoid regulatory fines and penalties due to non-compliance as it reviews an organization’s compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Management System and other regulations and standards related to work safety.
What are the benefits of safety audits of an organization?
Although every safety audit is different as it varies from one organization to another. With safety audits, your organization can be benefited in the following ways:-
- Tracking of the effectiveness of the organization’s safety programs.
- Compliance with regulatory and industry requirements regarding the health and safety of the organization.
- Identification and assessment of the potential hazard and preparation of their prevention and mitigation procedures.
- Establishment of communication and emergency procedures.
- Comprehensive and effective safety training for the employees.
- Alignment of the safety program with the company’s goals.
What to Include in Your Checklist
The safety audit aims to identify hazards and risks related to workplaces and suggest appropriate controls to create safe and healthy workplaces. An organization needs to include the following details in its checklist: –
- Work Process – It helps users to identify the risk associated with the processes and procedures and demonstrates that your organization implements effective controls to ensure the safety of the employees.
- Fire Emergency – An organization must include safety measures to prevent fire hazards and formulate an adequate evacuation plan.
- Loading and Unloading – If the organization deals in the regular loading and unloading of products, then it needs to review processes and procedures to ensure safety during the process.
- Lightening and Electrical – Adequate lighting is necessary to maintain workplace safety as it impacts productivity and safety.
- Tools and Machinery – If your organization deals with heavy machinery, vehicles, and tools, then it requires implementing appropriate tools to ensure workplace safety.
Process of safety audit:
- Fill out the application form – You will be required to fill out the application form provided by us. This form will seek information about the type of your work, the size of your organization, etc.
- Review of the application – Our operations team will review every aspect of your organization by analyzing the information provided by you. On this basis, we will quote the best price for you.
- Performance of the audit – One of our auditors will visit your organization and conduct documentation reviews, walkthroughs, inspections, and interviews (as and when required).
- Report Submission – Based on the audit, the auditor will submit a detailed report of the same.
PDCA Cycle
- Plan – to think that what do we need to achieve in our organization
- Do – to execute a planned action which will help us achieve the required objective
- Check – monitor against the standards) (policies, objectives, requirements)
- Action – finally implementing what has been rechecked.