Health and Safety Audits

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

Every employer shall make and give effect to such arrangements as are appropriate, having regard to the nature of his activities and the size of his undertaking, for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures (Section 5.1 - Health and Safety Arrangements)

What this means in practice is that every employer is not only responsible for appropriate planning, organisation, control etc of suitable health and safety arrangements but must also conduct regular monitoring and reviews of the measures to ensure they continue to be effective. We refer to this activity under the title of Health and Safety Audit.

In case you are wondering, these regulations apply to companies of every size. If, however, there are fewer than 5 employees, there is no legal obligation to document the arrangements. However, this begs the question about what evidence you have of completing the work if you don´t document anything.

What is a Health & Safety Audit?

For those who are not familiar with the concept, a Health and Safety Audit is similar in principle to a financial audit where an independent body examines the books, invoices, receipts and financial procedures of a company to ensure the organisation is financially safe and healthy. Of course this process can go spectacularly wrong as evidenced by a couple of major financial scandals in the USA. However, for the vast majority of companies, it works very well.

Similar procedures apply in the field of health and safety but in this case the focus is less on financial matters and more on human safety and welfare (though there can be significant financial issues as well).

Briefly, an Audit involves completing a detailed questionnaire based on observations around the workplace, examination of documentation and interviews with members of staff. It covers 5 major aspects of health and safety, viz:

Health & Safety policy.
Allocation of responsibilities and development of a health and safety culture.
Health & safety objectives.
Measuring systems.
Health & safety performance reviewing systems.

By following the same procedure each time, it is easy to track changes from one year to the next. Are things improving or deteriorating? It also helps to pinpoint where action is most pressing and therefore it assists enormously in setting priorities and planning actions.

So what are the benefits in real terms?

If you have never conducted an Audit before, then it is like going to your doctor for the first time for a thorough medical health check. If everything is fine, then you can sleep easy at night. On the other hand, if there are problems, then the sooner they are identified and addressed, the less likely they are to end in tragedy.
Once you have established a cycle of Audits, you have documented evidence of continuous improvement in health and safety performance (always assuming you act on the findings). That is extremely valuable evidence if, for example, you need to demonstrate your health and safety credentials when bidding for contracts. You can use it to negotiate reduced insurance premiums and it can do wonders for your public relations.

By way of examples, a few years back we were able to negotiate an ongoing reduction of £50,000 on annual insurance premiums for a major IT company and only this year have negotiated a reduction of £150,000 on premiums for a company in the leisure sector. These are significant savings for major companies but we have numerous examples of equivalent reductions for many smaller organisations.
Investing in health and safety can be expensive and may yield little tangible benefit if done in a haphazard way. If, however, finance and resources are targeted in a planned way it can bring significant benefits to the organisation´s bottom line, in addition to making the workplace a safer environment for your employees.
A further benefit that should not be too lightly discounted is that you can be seen to comply with the law. If you have seen directors on TV entering the courts to face manslaughter charges, you might appreciate the mental anguish they are going through. For the most part these are decent people but they have been negligent somewhere along the line and the consequences are catastrophic for them and, of course, for the people who have been injured or killed. The better alternative is to know that you have done all that is reasonably practicable to eliminate or reduce risks in the workplace.

Timing

When is the best time to conduct an Audit? It obviously depends on individual circumstances but, considering what is at stake, there is never a better time than the present.

Many organisations are also coming to the end/start of their financial year so what better time to develop your plan of action and put a little something aside in the budget for health and safety in the coming year.

Contact EDP HS&E Consultants for all your health, safety and environment needs. We can check your current arrangements and advise you about any changes or improvements you need to make.

To discuss your requirements, without any obligation on your part, please gives us a call on 01744 766000 or complete the Enquiry Form on our website.

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