In our previous blog, we spoke about Why Safety Audits are essential to Prevent Accidents. Now let's see what the types of safety audits are. But before diving into that, in case you haven't been through my previous blog, let me give a brief on safety audit.

What is Safety Audit, and what is the need for it? 

A safety audit is a broad term that refers to a procedure in which a facility collects data on one or more workplace components to assess the risk of health or safety concerns. The purpose of safety audits is accountability. Safety audits are intended to guarantee that a company's physical and human assets are protected by compelling program features for recognizing, reducing, or mitigating hazards. Safety audits are, at their heart, an organized procedure for recording, evaluating, and reporting data on a company's entire health and safety management system.

Work-related Diseases and Injuries cost the lives of 1.9 million people in 2016, according to the first joint estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). These safety audits will help businesses keep their employees safe, reduce legal risks, improve productivity, and ensure compliance with federal and state regulations. As a result, audits are an essential component of any safety program.

Types of Safety Audits

Finally, there are three major types of Safety Audits. Any enterprise that is keen on ensuring the safety of its employees and visitors at the workplace can benefit from the below mentioned safety audits.

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● Compliance audits

A compliance audit is the simplest and most rudimentary type of safety audit. Compliance audits examine whether your business adheres to the safety standards outlined in its bylaws, processes, rules, regulations, and any associated liabilities. The norms of the country are crucial in establishing these standards.

The compliance audit also examines if the workplace is safe and free of dangers as organizations should make every effort to decrease the number of dangerous acts that could transpire.

A safety auditor will use various programs, rules, training modules, and record-keeping techniques and examine their safety regulations, methods, and practices to see if they comply with OSHA safety requirements and other safety legislation and policies to ensure workplace safety.

Failure to follow the safety rules can result in hefty fines and penalties and a detrimental impact on an organization's reputation and goodwill. Avoiding penalties is one of the key reasons companies stick to compliance auditing criteria and recheck the various steps.

● Program audits

Program audits entail assessing numerous safety measures after thoroughly examining all employee input and each component to identify the program's good safety outcomes.

Safety program audits are the only way to put HSE to the test by systematically analyzing the program design and efficacy by delving into the rules and foundations of practice.

● Management system audits

A management system audit, also known as an overall audit, keeps track of the program and compliance audits. It is the last step in the audit process, and it is used to validate risk control measures and guarantee that safety compliance is sufficient. This audit aims to assess the current performance of the complete safety procedure and determine whether it complies with business policy and regulatory standards. It's a type of integrated audit that verifies whether the safety initiatives align with the company's practices and goals. It depicts the audit program in its entirety.

A management system audit combines traditional auditing procedures with employee interviews, compliance assessments, and workplace inspections. It's a tangled system whose cooperation aids in projecting an overall image of the company's safety program.

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Benefits of Safety Audits

Safety audits are frequently recognized as the essential technique for examining and identifying shortcomings in work operations as part of a safety management system. Safety Audit is the only program that can help you anticipate and address safety issues by

• Performing routine inspections to ensure continuous compliance 

• Evaluating management involvement and employee safety adherence 

• Advising the company to strengthen its safety policies.

• Identifying safety breaches and sharing audit results 

• Confirming Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other health and safety rules are followed

Safety professionals can view the benefit of a safety audit in various ways. Some consider it as little more than a legal necessity, while others see it as a crucial sign of operational safety. 

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How to Conduct an effortless Safety Audit?

Because safety audits are intricate, you can't merely rely on typical risk analysis approaches or historical precedents to determine how effective a program will be. Furthermore, conducting audits is a time-consuming procedure that takes a lot of human effort, experience, and competent management, and it does not guarantee that the program will function smoothly.

The audit process includes:

• Routine procedural inspections.
• Understanding of OSHA standards and other norms.
• Adherence to various checklists.
• Effective data collection.

In many cases, the price for these procedures is insufficient, resulting in costly damages in the event of a violation.

Due to low safety budgets and negative results, companies are often discouraged from continuing audit procedures, which can have a cascade effect on employee safety and the brand itself. As a result, a centralized data storage system that can reduce implementation and execution costs is essential.

Our Action Tracking System is the tool you'll need to ensure a successful safety audit. With ATS, you'll be able to collect and track all of the data you'll need for your audit. To learn more about ATS, request a free demo.

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