Safety health and environmental audit

A management that wants to achieve a culture change is best served if the deficiencies noted and the proposals for improvement made in audit reports principally effect safety management systems. Successes of safety audits are determined by how they affect the organization s culture. (See Chapter 22, On Safety, Health, and Environmental Audits. )... 

Conduct or participate in internal safety, health, and environmental audits at least twice per year... 

Accident Prevention Manual for Business and Industry Administrative Programs, 13th Edition. Itasca, IL National Safety Council, 2009. Chapter 7—Safety, Health, and Environmental Auditing. 

Safety health and environmental audit (SHE) of constructed plant before introducing hazardous materials... 

National Safety Council. Accident Prevention Manual, Safety, Health and Environmental Auditing. Chicago, IL, 11 Edition, 1997, pp. 102-3. 

There are some considerations that are supra to the individual elements in safety management systems. 1 have concluded that most safety, health, and environmental management system audits, intended to measure the quahty of hazards management in place, are deficient in purpose and content. 1 include in that observation the guidehnes used for the audits 1 drafted for individual client needs, the many audit reports 1 reviewed, and a study of several audit systems. 

To begin with, I suggest that safety professionals agree on a definition of a safety, health, and environmental management system audit. Several writers have provided definitions and addressed what information the audit should provide. Their views differ. 

A synopsis of what appears under Line Organization ES H Functions follows. Note that the functions are assigned to line management. Basically, these functions should be considered as elements of all safety, health, and environmental endeavors, and the auditing practices that are to assess their effectiveness. 

Safety, health, and environmental management and audit systems (e.g., ANSI/AIHA ZIO, ISO 14000 series, OHSAS18000 series, ISO 19011, U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration Voluntary Protection Programs)... 

In Chapter 25, Measurement of Safety Performance, it is said that precise and certain measures of safety, health, and environmental performance are difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, audits can be highly effective measures of the quality of operational risk management in place if they are well conceived and well done. It is suggested that the observation made by Kase and Wiese (1990) concerning the purpose of a safety audit be kept in mind ... 

Managers need to demonstrate their commitment to safety, health and environmental issues to interested parties such as stakeholders, customers, the community, voluntary organisations and the authorities. One way of doing so is to implement voluntary standards on SHE management and to receive proof of compliance from an independent certifying body. In order to receive such a certificate, the company s SHE management system has to be audited by the body to demonstrate that it is operating effectively in conformance with the standard. 

This audit evaluates criteria for safety, health, and environmental training programs, including development, delivery, evaluation, and program management detailed in ANSl/ASSE Z490.1-2001 (Criteria for Accepted Practices in Safety, Health, and Environmental Training, 2001). 

Auditing can serve the need of evaluating and verifying safety, health, and environmental compliance. The desire is to measure compliance with specific regulations, standards, or conqiany policies. Some of the benefits of auditing programs include ... 

In addition to these paper tools, there are several commercially available health, safety, and environmental audit software programs that can be customized to meet specific needs. 

Guidance on Safety, Occupational Health and Environmental Protection Auditing (1991)... 

Comments have been made elsewhere in this book about transitions taking place in the practice of safety, one of which is combining the responsibility for occupational safety and health and environmental controls into one entity. That has occurred at a corporate level, at some locations of larger companies, and more frequently in the not-huge-and-smaller organizations where but one or two safety professionals may be employed. That poses the following question Practicably what is the purpose of an audit and what should a risk-based audit system encompass This chapter discusses ... 

Sexton, K., Visser, K., Health, safety, and environmental auditing in EP industry. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, 1991, pp. 731-734. 

An important aspect of environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations is enforcement. Eederal, state, and local regulatory authorities usually have large enforcement sections. In the environmental area, compliance audits are usually conducted aimually. OSHA, both federal and state, usually audits based on a faciHty s accident/incident rate. 

Which environmental, health and safety considerations affect closure and audits ... 

An example of an audit guide that focuses on environmental, health, and safety inspections during the toll-processing phase is included as Appendix B, Sample Toller HS E Assessment. This example should be customized to meet specific needs by adding quality concerns or other processing related items. 

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