All businesses are legally responsible for conducting regular audits and putting measures in place to identify risks and prevent accidents, injuries, ill health, and to mitigate reputation damage. Regardless of the sector and the size of the organisation, the majority of these accidents are avoidable with a well-conducted audit, which will uncover potential flaws, give future safety guidance and highlight any training suggestions.  

Auditing potential hazards can also help organisations save time, money, and resources by identifying defects, inconsistencies, and other areas needing improvement. Here’s everything you need to know about safety audits and what benefits your organisation should get from conducting regular safety audits. 

What is a Health and Safety Audit? 

A health and safety audit is a professional assessment of a company’s health and safety policies, systems, and procedures. Audits are an excellent way to assess what is going on in your locations and to determine if you are currently in compliance with health and safety regulations. 

A health and safety audit should cover the following points: 

• Are current systems and procedures accurate and producing the desired results? 
• Is the organisation protecting the well-being of its employees and following all applicable regulations? 

The Benefits of Safety Inspections and Audits 

Routine inspections and audits are not only a regulatory requirement but also an excellent method for ensuring that your organisation runs smoothly. Despite their significance, audits and inspections seem to be misunderstood. They are sometimes used interchangeably without realising that they pertain to different principles. 

Safety inspections are critical in gathering information, such as detecting dangers or maintenance requirements. They are usually done daily and entail checking off needed items as they are inspected (the reason why inspection checklists are a great tool). Inspections may be broad, inspecting a whole facility or workplace, or specialised, assessing a single asset, which is often undertaken by the asset operation level. 

Safety audits are often more complex than inspections and are done less regularly and by higher-level professionals rather than operators. In general, the goal of an audit is to assess overall compliance with internal rules, numerous regulations, and other compliance factors. Audits thoroughly review whether an organisation’s health and safety, maintenance, or other tasks are appropriately handled. 

Audits and inspections are both vital processes, and the Inform People software will help a great deal in streamlining and maximising their value to your organisation. 

The following are some of the benefits and reasons why you should do regular inspections and safety audits: 

To identify and discover potential hazards in the workplace 

If problems lie behind the scenes, they may lead to accidents and other negative impacts on an organisation. The sooner they are detected and treated. The more equipped your organisation will be to help its clients. 

To check the safety of your workplace 

Whether your organisation performs a safety audit or inspection, it is beneficial to undertake a critical review of the workplace and identify any areas that need remedial action. Consistent safety checks should be an important part of your company’s occupational health and safety policy and should be conducted regularly. 

To gain further understanding of tasks and jobs 

As an employer, you always want to understand your company’s risks. By conducting safety inspections and audits, you can gain insight into how employees are performing their work activities. This knowledge can help you improve their performance by providing feedback on what is working well and what needs improvement. 

To listen to the concerns of your employees and supervisors 

Safety inspections and audits are a great way to listen to the concerns of workers and supervisors by asking questions about their safety needs, expectations, and concerns. The goal is to discover how we can help make them feel safer on the job. 

Establishing transparent communication during the audit increases management participation and may enable a more successful, efficient, and high-quality audit, which benefits both management and the auditor. 

To verify that your processes are following policies and regulations 

The primary benefit of performing regular safety audits is to guarantee that the organisation’s health and safety practices are constantly improved and follow the health and safety regulations. Regulations are continually evolving and keeping up with them can be overwhelming and time-consuming, but with a safety audit, you will demonstrate responsive and proactive attention to your workers’ well-being. 

To determine if your safety and health programs and procedures are working 

Safety audits monitor programme performance, ensure implementation, and identify programme weaknesses and areas for development. Actions are taken as needed to enhance the program’s overall safety and health performance. Continuous improvement to develop practices, and train your employees based on your audit findings, proves your dedication to improvement and indicates efforts to make changes toward a safer environment.  

To confirm that management and employee are following safety programs 

Safety inspections and audits can be used to identify workplace hazards, allowing management to take steps to control and avoid them. They also help managers understand the effectiveness of their safety programmes. 

In addition, safety inspections and audits allow management to identify areas where training is needed so that employees can be effective in their jobs. Finally, they provide an opportunity for a company’s employees to participate in improving safety at work by providing feedback on what is working and where improvements need to be made. 

To inspect safety equipment 

Safety inspections are conducted by qualified individuals who have been trained to look for potential hazards. They perform a visual inspection, looking for issues such as damaged equipment or improper use of equipment. They may also perform an audit, which involves reviewing records related to the equipment and its use to ensure that all employees are using it properly. 

To determine if you are documenting your safety & health programme activities properly 

Safety inspections will look at everything from your written policies to equipment maintenance logs. This can be a great way to get feedback on areas where you need improvement, but it’s also a good way to ask questions about what they saw during the inspection to evaluate how well your program is working. 

A safety inspection is a visit by an inspector who will observe the workplace and talk to employees, while an audit is a written examination of documents and records.  

To evaluate the adequacy of your supervisors’ safety training and performance 

A safety audit is similar to an inspection but also looks at your organisation’s policies and procedures. Safety inspections and audits should be conducted regularly to ensure that your supervisors follow all necessary protocols to protect their employees from injury or illness. 

To evaluate the adequacy of your employees’ safety training and performance 

It’s essential to conduct regular safety audits and inspections to ensure that your workers are aware of safety protocols. You can identify any problems with their knowledge base or ability to perform their duties safely and properly. 

We encourage organisations and enterprises to self-correct and connect identified compliance gaps with training since training improves efficiency and allows employees to do their jobs effectively and safely.  

Who should perform the site safety audit? 

Safety inspections and audits have been shown to mitigate the number of accidents. It also benefits most organisations. We highly recommend that you or the area manager or specialist within the company to conduct more detailed audit to develop and implement safety procedures rather than waiting for an accident or incident to happen.  

Audits help protect employees and organisations by reducing injuries, lowering operating costs, and increasing productivity. Inform People has the professional experience and tools you need to keep your employees safe, minimise your risks, and maximise your organisation’s performance and productivity. 

You can adopt compliance and performance management software from Inform People to digitalise the process, making audits faster and easier. Companies are increasingly relying on health and safety management software. With features like checklists, report compilation, and action tracking, this sort of safety software or safety app makes it simple to handle audits. 

Contact us today and explore our health and safety compliance software to personalise your health and safety training sessions.