What is safety auditing?
Safety auditing is a valuable management technique that is highly recommended by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Indeed, HSE Guidance document HSG65 “Successful Health and Safety Management” recommends that safety audits are undertaken annually to assist organisations to focus their resources in areas of most need. Our safety auditing systems can be measured against HSG65 and OHSAS 18001 as well as measuring your status against legal compliance and your own internal standards.
A safety audit will show exactly how you measure up to legal requirements, and whether your performance is up to standard. It will act as a benchmark from which you can form a health and safety plan.
The scope of a safety audit
Our safety auditor will examine your own management policies and procedures for securing health, safety and welfare. This is supported by a tour of inspection which will help identify areas where new policies are needed, and where existing procedures are not working effectively in practice.
The safety audit will consider the 30 subject areas of health and safety (or as appropriate) described in the model contents list below:
Model contents list
• Introduction
• Safety arrangements at the organisation1. Management of health and safety
2. Accidents and accident reporting
3. Asbestos
4. Contractors
5. Display screen equipment
6. Electrical safety
7. Emergency lighting
8. Environmental protection
9. Fire prevention and emergencies
10. First-aid
11. Hazardous substances
12. Housekeeping and cleanliness
13. Information and communication
14. Kitchens, catering and food safety
15. Lifts and lifting equipment
16. Manual handling operations
17. Noise
18. Occupational health
19. Personal protective equipment
20. Plant rooms, machinery and equipment
21. Risk assessment requirements
22. Safety Policy
23. Safety signs and notices
24. Training
25. Use of vehicles / vehicle safety
26. Water services
27. Welfare provision
28. Working time
29. Work at heights
30. Workplace environment
- Recommendations
We will prepare and submit a user-friendly written safety audit report that identifies where attention is needed to meet legislation or a recognised standard. It will also explain why such attention is needed. Each subject heading will have an action plan on which you can record your own targets and time-frames for addressing, and the people who are allocated with responsibility for the task.
For more safety auditing information and costs > contact us
Auditing to OHSAS 18001
OHSAS 18001 is an international management standard that is due to receive UKAS accreditation by late 2006 / early 2007 and will be launched as ISO 18001. The Association of British Insurers has stated that organisations who meet a recognised standard are likely to attract a healthy discount from their Employers Liability Insurance premium.
We have specially designed safety audit formats that can identify to what extent your health and safety management systems are meeting the specifications set in the management standard. If you are not yet meeting the standard, then we can show you where you may be going wrong.
• the extent to which you are meeting legal compliance
• the extent to which you are meeting HSE guidance and industry standards
• the remedial actions that are required, and the priorities for addressing these
• what areas of your management system need development to meet, or maintain compliance with, OHSAS 18001.
For more information on how Envex can help you see > Appointed safety advisor service