Safety Auditing- How much is enough?
Gavin Coyle CMIOSH I MBS
CEO @ | Coyle-Group.com Safety Outsourcing & Gavin-Coyle.com online safety I Host of I'm the Gaffer Construction podcast I Amazon Author I Award Winner & Safety Influencer
Safety auditing is not a new process, it's been around a lot longer than many people realise. The code of Hammurabi, circa 2,000 B.C., illustrated concern in handling injuries and associated with caring for “infected people. Ramses II circa 1,500 B.C., created a medical service and required daily bathing for his labourers, in hopes to efficiently construct the pyramid that bears his name. This continued during the rise of the Roman empire with workers particular health defects being linked to certain occupations. This heralded the beginning of records in occupational health and safety.
With so many safety organisations out there, and so many demands for documentation, it’s easy to believe that, ‘maybe we have too many audits’. The auditor is responsible for the evaluation of the entire organisation. This includes everyone, and everything within it.
A proper audit from a third party independent professional will include meeting and working with management, reviewing documentation, reviewing training, processes, services, office, floor production and the ergonomic engineering of equipment and products. They then summarise overall performance in a snapshot.
Internal audits, safety walks, or self-assessments recognise the deficiencies prior to an audit, with the intention to strengthen the safety of the job site. You can never really have too many walks or audits, as long as the ultimate outcome prevents an injury in the workplace. To that point, a lot of companies have associates report “near misses” as a separate category to track the potential of accidents and injuries, without waiting for a recordable accident to document and identify deficiencies, thereby validating the need of the initial walks and audits.
In the end, the best case scenario, is having an audit program, administered by a health and safety professional that operates with a system that is in all ways, living and breathing. By that, each associate must be able to access it, and be comfortable to contribute. You can audit your facility daily, but, if there is no buy in from the team, if no one feels that they can give back in a preventative manner, then all the walks in the world will not be effective.
You can find a longer, more in depth version of this article on Coyle Group's website;
CEO @ | Coyle-Group.com Safety Outsourcing & Gavin-Coyle.com online safety I Host of I'm the Gaffer Construction podcast I Amazon Author I Award Winner & Safety Influencer
8 年Totally agree
trigger risk analysis is common, or failure rates something which is over looked
CEO @ | Coyle-Group.com Safety Outsourcing & Gavin-Coyle.com online safety I Host of I'm the Gaffer Construction podcast I Amazon Author I Award Winner & Safety Influencer
8 年Thanks Phillip for your comment - also I think people confuse an inspection and a audit - we believe companies should break this down for example workplace inspections - gap analysis - compliance audits etc
CEO @ | Coyle-Group.com Safety Outsourcing & Gavin-Coyle.com online safety I Host of I'm the Gaffer Construction podcast I Amazon Author I Award Winner & Safety Influencer
8 年Of course Vern thanks to all at Safetycare