Accidents audit performance correlations

A key characteristic of an audit that is seldom examined is the link between audit performance and safety performance in the workplace. For example, if the objective of an audit is to evaluate accident prevention strategies in the workplace, then there should be some type of correlation or relationship between performance in the audit and accident history. All too often, audits are developed and items appear on them because they should be a part of the safety program, when in actuality some activities... 

Figure 2.6.1 I Correlation between accident and audit performance...

In an article published in the October 1998 issue of Professional Safety and titled What Measures Should We Use, and Why , Dan Petersen questions the value of packaged audits, giving examples of studies that show that audit results did not always correlate to a firm s accident experience. There is a history of that sort of thing with respect to packaged audits in which an audit guide is used that may not be sufficiently relative to the actual safety practices and needs in the entity being audited. Petersen concluded that the self built audit—one that accurately measures performance of a firm s own safety system—was viewed as the answer. To constmct such an audit, Petersen says, a firm must define ... 

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