Occupational health and Safety Audit

What is HSE Audit?

HSE Audit is a process that is used by organizations to make sure that their employees are protected. It is important especially in industries that involve heavy machinery. HSE audits will ensure that environment, health & safety is taken into consideration, so that no risks are present in the work environment.

Organizations need to provide and maintain a safe working environment for their employees to work. That environment needs to be set up in the right way so that all employees are adequately protected and can perform their duties.

HSE Audit is concerned with ensuring that a business is taking all the necessary steps to ensure that its employees have a safe working environment. In this light, they ensure that the working environment is safe, so that people are facing very minimal, manageable risk in their jobs, including exposure to health problems. It is also important to set up a plan in case of the potential risks that may arise, or in other words, an up-to-date risk assessment.

HSE Audit (Health, Safety and Environmental Audit) is a systematic examination of Environmental, Health and Safety Performance and the systems put in place for prevention of accidents & incidents, adverse health effects & environmental impacts. The audit is conducted by a competitive environment, health and safety personnel of an external organization or by an organization on its own premises or in connection with a contract with another organization. Some organizations conduct their own audits, others contract with external organizations.

HSE Audit is an integral part of the Environmental, Health and Safety management system (EHSMS) and is conducted to ensure compliance with statutory requirements as well as to identify potential improvements to environmental, health and safety performance.

Auditing

The main objective of auditing is to identify environmental, health and safety risks in the business and to identify if suitable and effective control measures are in place to mitigate risks. Auditors may also suggest measures for improvement. They will primarily look at whether workers are given the right training for their work, whether they are being trained to work safely, what hazards they are and might be exposed to, whether there are any changes in work processes, among a host of other things.

There are various steps involved in auditing process that includes site visit, documentation review and employee interview / feedback. It is a time-consuming process and is aimed at improving the way the business is run. The benefits of HSE audits are enormous, and businesses should not be putting it off at any cost. It is very important to understand that the audited organizations will be looking for improvements and there is always something that needs to be addressed.