Personnel audit programs, prevention

The prevention and control of hazards can be accomplished in many ways. The primary way is through the reporting of hazards by employees and the correction of hazards by supervisors or other company qualified personnel. Second, employers can use preventive maintenance programs, special emphasis programs, training, workplace audits, engineering controls, administrative controls, and, as a last resort, personal protective equipment. 

One way to facilitate the audit process is when individual elements of PSM or the RMP prevention program can be scheduled for audit by quarter to ensure all elements of the PSM system are audited every three years. This continuous auditing cycle maintains employee awareness of the overall PSM system and reduces personnel requirements. 

Safety knowledge reviews and work observations should be routinely performed by the supervisor to measure the effectiveness of the company s safety program, training, PPE, compliance etc. At a minimum, the work observation form should include the employee s name, job title, year/date, supervisor name, work task(subject observed), OK/deviation, comments, and corrective action. This documentation should be maintained in the employee personnel file or a computerized file designed for this purpose. This information will be helpful in evaluating the company s accident prevention plan and will be used during an OSHA audit to document the company s safety training requirements. 

Injury/illness logs and exposure records are kept correctly, are audited by facility personnel, and are essentially accurate and complete. Rates are calculated so as to identify high risk areas and jobs. Workers compensation claim records are analyzed and the results used in the program. Significant analytical findings are used for prevention. ... 

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