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Safety Audits
Occupation Health and Safety is quickly becoming a significant issue among businesses. Not only is it an issue, but employee safety should be the top priority of any company because those employees are a company’s biggest asset. More people are discussing the impact that poor workplace safety has on morale and corporate image, which is why you, as a business owner, cannot be left behind in this trend. Customers will not buy from you if they believe your company is not adhering to the set standards in employee safety, and your brand will suffer as well. Occupational health and safety is one of the internal factors you must keep in mind to keep your business’ daily operations going smoothly.
What is a safety audit?
A safety audit is a general procedure that involves gathering all the information regarding the workplace to evaluate the health and safety risks that the employees in those stations are exposed to. These audits are not as straightforward and require qualified personnel to gather high-quality information relating to the efficiency, effectiveness, and reliability of a company’s health and safety systems.
Why does your company require a safety audit?
The need for a thorough safety audit will depend mostly on your industry regulations and safety policy. Still, every business owner is highly encouraged to seek a professional safety audit once in a while. Some of the reasons that necessitate a safety audit include:
Health and Safety concerns: companies that value their staff and aspire to provide them with everything they require for optimal safety will perform a safety audit. Audits such as fire safety audits will reveal previously overseen faults and threats that will otherwise cause accidents and other forms of disasters.
When looking for potential hazards, the auditors use a document called a safety checklist. This checklist is provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to aid for reliable and fast identification of these issues. These checklists are industry-specific, and auditors will use checklists that are relevant to specific workplaces and processes to ensure full compliance with safety standards. These checklists are usually completed during the safety audit and reported on, while being used as a basis for safety recommendations. You will readily find OSHA checklists for various potentially hazardous situations such as fall protection, fire safety audit, laboratory safety audit, radiation exposure safety, and electrical safety audit.
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Injuries and complaints: if a certain department or section of employees is constantly coming down with injuries, falls, or complaints about something, a safety audit of that particular area or others like it will identify the reasons for the accidents and propose a solution. This way, no one will get injured or experience anxiety about working in that area.
To boost a culture of safety if you are in the construction, manufacturing, or any other industry where safety is a major concern, then it must be included in your culture. A safety culture will ensure that each employee knows their role in ensuring safety and practices it daily. A safety audit will prove to your employees just how much you value occupational safety and will help set the tone for a strong organizational safety culture.
Legal requirements: some states, localities, or federal law may require you as a business owner to carry out a mandatory safety audit to ensure you meet set standards and stipulations. Failure to meet these standards often predisposes you to fines, shutdowns, or lawsuits in case of any accidents.
What a safety audit in your company will look like
A safety audit is an organized process that follows a specific safety audit plan. Moreover, our team at Safe T Professionals has sufficient knowledge and expertise on OSHA regulations, industry-specific standards, and federal, state, and local laws regarding safety.
One of the most important steps in any safety audit is to obtain and go through all incident reports for specific departments and machines. This read will provide information on existing and potential problem areas. From there, the auditors will proceed to the specific machine or department to watch how employees work and ask any questions to collect necessary information. This part is essentially an inspection that will focus on four main areas:
- People: your staffs’ behavior, methods, and ways of doing things
- Premises: the state of the working environment itself
- Procedures: the methodology and permit to work system
- Objects: machinery, tools, equipment, and vehicles
After all necessary information is obtained, the auditors can then sift through it to analyze it for any safety concerns. With the analysis complete, it is now possible to come up with solutions to the identified safety loopholes. The auditors will write comprehensive reports based on their analysis to help business owners make their premises safer for their employees.
How often should companies have a safety Audit?
The frequency of facility safety audits depends mainly on the nature of work being done and of the workplace, materials, substances, machinery, and equipment involved in the work process, and the procedures used. These factors may require that you have an OSHA safety audit done daily, weekly, monthly, after every six months, or annually.
Characteristics of an effective workplace safety audit:
Objectivity
Your company’s safety audit is only valuable and helpful if it is done by professionals. To ensure you get a professional and comprehensive look at the safety measures you have in place, consider hiring our safety audit company, Safe T Professionals. We are a qualified team of workplace safety professionals with plenty of experience and knowledge in OSHA and other regulations. By hiring an external safety auditor, you get a fresh perspective into things and benefit from having an opinion that is unbiased by internal or personal affairs.
Sufficient Preparation
Before the safety audit, all the managers and staff in the departments to be audited should be informed to ensure that they get all their documents, records, and processes ready. The auditors will look at the company’s previous audits and recommendations made towards improving identified problem areas; thus, these should be made ready as well. Lastly, the scope of the audit should be communicated in advance to facilitate adequate preparation.
Modernn Technology Use
Our company uses the most advanced technology to obtain reliable results on each worker’s compliance status and develop more specific checklists for every area within your premises. Our modern technology, coupled with years of expertise on the workplace safety front, you can rely on us fully for a comprehensive safety audit.
