At its core, safety audits are the quintessential step towards recording, evaluating, registering, and reporting operational and management data to ensure the overall health and safety management system. This post highlights the types of safety audits and why there is a critical need for it. 

Types of Safety Audits

There are three significant categories of safety audits, segregated based on the information they contain. Following are the three types: 

• Compliance Audit 
• Program Audit 
• Management System Audit 

1. Compliance Audit

Compliance Audit falls under the ambit of the basic safety audit procedures. A safety auditor reviews a company’s safety rules and related systems and practices to ensure its adherence to the OSHA safety standards or other safety regulations and policies. 

A compliance safety audit plays a crucial role in facilitating strict compliance to the OSHA standards and rules by employing many programs, regulations, training modules, and record-keeping practices to ensure workplace safety. 

Failure to comply with the rules can result in hefty fines and reparations being levied, which can also severely affect the reputation of the goodwill of an organization. This lump some penalties are one of the primary reasons companies strictly adhere to the norms of the compliance audits and recheck the various steps and procedures involved. 

2. Program Audit 

Program Audits involve evaluating various safety practices after heavy dissection of all the input by the employees and every individual component to determine positive safety outcomes of the program. 

Safety program audits are the only feasible way of putting HSE to the test in rigorously evaluating the program design and efficacy of the plan by diving deep into the rules and foundations of practice. 

3. Management System Audit

Management System Audit is a combination of both a Compliance Audit and  Program Audit. This audit aims to evaluate the existing performance of the entire safety procedure and determine its alignment with the company policy and regulatory norms. 

A management system audit helps integrate the standard auditing procedure and worker interviews, compliance reviews, and workplace observation. It is an intertwined system whose collaboration helps project an overall image of the organization’s safety program. 

What is the Need for a Safety Audit?

Safety Audits are an integral part of a safety management system; they are incredibly relevant to examining and identifying the various gaps and issues in the safety procedures. Therefore, this program acts as a drill to touch upon multiple things, which include: 

1. Routine Inspections to ensure compliance to norms: Regular check-ups ensure that in the case of any structural or onsite issue, enough safety measures are adopted in compliance with the legal guidelines for the proper functioning of the organization. 
2. Identifying, drafting, and communicating safety violations: The Routine check-ups help identify the cavities in the given system, which is prepared and sent as a report displaying the procedures’ discrepancies, which is then taken care of by the organization. 
3. Dealing with the management and safety adherence by staff: The organization has to ensure compliance to safety procedures to ensure worker safety and basic health standards of the employees. The implementation involves dealing with the management and ensuring strict adherence to the security standards done with the help of the coordination of the management and staff. 
4. Periodic examination of the machinery: The machines and equipment are regularly checked, and its performance is assessed and monitored in compliance with the OSHA safety norms. The analysis helps identify the various underlying threats and hazards at a workplace. 
5. Ensuring compliance to the OSHA Safety Audits and other regulations: The OSHA Safety Audits provide a better comprehensive data marker to attain workplace security. Along with different laws and regulations, the implementation of OSHA has resulted in increased worker safety. 
6. Recommendations for improving company safety: The audit process helps improve the current working conditions and helps develop better recommendations that directly engage in the effective implementation of safety procedures in any organization. 

How to Execute a Safety Audit Efficiently?

Safety Audits are tricky; one cannot solely rely on the conventional methods of risk analysis or historical references to predict the efficiency of an audit program. In addition, conducting audits can be resource-draining which involves extensive manual labor, expertise, and effective management, which also doesn’t guarantee a smooth program run. 

Audits involve rigorous procedure checks, knowledge of OSHA standards and other norms, adherence to various checklists, and efficient data collection. Often, the payoff for these procedures isn’t enough and sometimes results in hefty prices as reparations in case of any violation. 

The tight safety budgets and bad results often dissuade companies from continuing the audit procedures, which can have a cascading effect on the safety of employees and the brand itself; therefore, it is essential to have a centralized system of data storage that can cut costs on implementation and execution. 

Pulse is one such application that has inbuilt checklists, data parameters and monitors control settings, creating an effective method of tracking progress and handling risks at the workplace. For more information on how your business can benefit from smart checklists, contact us today and try it for free.