Health audit

SAFETY AND HEALTH AUDIT QUESTIONS Safety and Health Program Site Control Training... 

Bennett, R. M., Director of Health Audit, National Audit Office, London, United Kingdom, letter to the Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress, Washington, DC, November 29, 1991. 

DeWitt, L.A., 2005. Developing, Implementing and Managing a Risk-Based Safety and Health Auditing Process. American Society of Safety Engineers. 

Are there insurance company or contractor safety and health audit reports that have been ignored Are headquarters safety and health personnel aware of the reports and the inaction ... 

Management endorsed the use of audits to ensure that each facility was following the Midas S H program. Our intent was to utiUze best safety practices and follow the requirements of the OSHA regulations. The safety and health audit verified what each facility was accompUshing. 

Conducting worksite inspections, safety and health audits, job hazard analyses, and other types of hazard identification. 

Before one can plot the path ahead it would be opportune to establish where or how far along the path the company already is. The best way to do this is to establish a baseline by means of a complete safety and health audit of the safety status. The audit will tell where the organization fits in comparison to organizations running best practice safety systems and will also give an indication of the status of the existing safety culture. (Friend, 2012, personal communication)... 

A safety and health audit of the work being done to control loss measures the safety system and highlights its strengths and weaknesses. The audit compares work being done, and standards being maintained, with accepted safety and health standards. It can be used to review and evaluate the performance and effectiveness of the safety system, and also to establish whether or not it meets international safety management system standards. 

A safety and health audit will help prioritize work to be done to further reduce the risks of the business. A systematic and thorough audit will indicate the development of a viable improvement plan, which can then be effectively communicated to all levels. 

Forming the safety leadership team (SLT) and arranging an external safety and health audit are already steps toward structuring a safety system. Setting up the system also calls for the constitution and establishment of different-tiered safety committees. It also establishes a safety culture baseline based on the audit findings. The big question now is What is the next step in the implementation of a safety system, and how is it done The short reply is that it s like eating an elephant—one bite at a time. Bite one is getting the workplace in order. 

Workplace audits are inspections that are conducted to evaluate certain aspects of the work environment regarding occupational safety and health. The use of safety and health audits has been shown to have a positive effect on a company s loss control initiative. In fact, companies that perform safety and health audits have fewer accidents/incidents than companies that do not perform such audits. 

Safety and health audits (inspections), which are often conducted in workplaces, serve a number of evaluative purposes. Audits or inspections can be performed to... 

Safety and health audits should be an integral part of your safety and health effort. Anyone conducting a safety and health audit must know the workplace, the procedures or processes being audited, the previous accident history, and the company s policies and operations. This person should also be trained in hazard recognition and interventions regarding safety and health. 

Safety and health audits/inspections can be done on or for the entire plant (e.g., manufacturing), a department (e.g., quality control), a specific worker unit (e.g., boiler repair), a job or task (e.g., diving), a certain work environment (e.g., confined spaces), a specific piece of equipment (e.g., forklift), a worker performing a task (e.g., power press operator), or prevention of an event (e.g., fire). It is important to ensure that inspections and audits be tailored to meet the needs of your company regarding auditing for safety and health concerns. 

Look for results from your training. Evaluate those results by looking at the reduced number of accidents/incidents, improved production, and good safety practices performed by your workforce. Evaluate the results using job safety observations and safety and health audits, as well as statistical information on the numbers of accidents and incidents. 

This chapter comments on the Management Review elements pertaining to Hazard identification Risk assessment and prioritization Progress made in risk reduction The effectiveness of procedures to eliminate or control identified hazards and risks Actions taken on the recommendations made in safety and health audits and The extent to which set objectives have been met. 

To assist safety professionals in crafting or recrafting safety and health audit systems to meet the requirements of ZIO, this chapter will ... 

If safety and health audits are to be perceived as having value, the auditors must have the professional qualifications to make them. Safety professionals conducting audits need to consider how well they are prepared for the situation at hand and how best to approach the management personnel in the organization to be audited. Similarly, if persons external to an organization are engaged to make safety audits, the safety professionals hiring them should examine their credentials carefully. 

Appendix I in ZIO also includes suggestions for the objective type of evidence that can be used while conducting an OHSMS audit. They include the types of documents and records to be examined, the titles of the persons to be interviewed, and the activities to be observed. Trying to be objective during a safety and health audit is vital to achieving good results. 

Again, with all the above there is a need to co-ordinate their independent findings to ensure that achon is promptly taken to control any risks identified. It is quite possible that with tfie advent of the Turnbull Guidance on Corporate Governance independent occupahonal safety and health audits may well become a legal requirement for publicly listed companies. 

A10.38 Basic Elements of a Program to Provide a Safe and Healthful Work Environment A10.39 Constmction Safety and Health Audit Program A10.40 Reduction of Musculoskeletal Problems in Constmction A10.41 Equipment Operator and Supervisor Qualifications and Responsibilities (under development)... 

The use of workplace inspections makes it necessary to have or develop written safety and health audit instruments. These instruments need to be tailored to meet the specific needs and intended purposes. Those using audit instruments need to be trained on their use and application. This means that they should be able to identify the hazards that are recorded on the audit form and must understand the workings of the workplace, process, equipment, etc., that they are to audit. These completed instruments are a record and documentation of one facet of your safety and health effort. A written sample safety and health audit policy is found in Figure 7.4. In Figure 7.5, you can find a sample jobsite inspection that can be altered and tailored to meet the unique needs of a particular company. 

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