Strengthen Compliance with Audit Management Software

A safety audit is a formal approach for examining your safety processes and procedures to determine if they are meeting internal standards, regulatory requirements or guidelines and your organizational goals. They are systematic and objective, and the goal is to identify weaknesses in your safety management system that could result in injuries, fatalities or equipment damage.

Every business should conduct safety audits to ensure their safety management systems support the goals and objectives that help to keep workers safe.

You should conduct a safety audit on the entire organization annually or even semi-annually for large, complex businesses. One option is to have individual departments conduct regular audits on a rotating basis throughout the year and have a larger, organization-wide audit annually. Rotating audits can help to ensure the annual audit is more effective and finds fewer problems to resolve.

You can conduct safety audits using internal personnel or you can hire a third-party specialist. Both should have expertise in the required best practices and regulations governing your operation, as well as a deep familiarity with your safety systems. The safety auditor will inspect documentation and data in an objective way without bias to find weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. They will look at things like frequency and efficacy of safety training, safety documentation, employee participation, leadership and management accountability, hazard identification, control measures and many other elements.

OSHA does not require that organizations conduct internal audits. However, OSHA does recommend it. Regular internal audits are considered a best practice for every organization. Organizations are expected to take responsibility for their safety management systems, and internal audits are important for identifying issues that could result in reportable injuries and fatalities.

Safety inspections focus on the specific elements of the workplace. They focus on documenting safety hazards, substandard physical conditions, housekeeping, communications problems and at-risk behavior. They are similar to audits, but the scope is limited to everyday risks and hazards in the workplace. An important best practice for safety inspections is the use of safety inspection checklists specific to the equipment and areas being inspected.

Audits also focus on hazards in the workplace, but the perspective is from the broader perspective of the management system as a whole. They look to identify weaknesses in the safety program, understand the efficacy of safety procedures and find opportunities for continuous improvement.