Conducting Safety Audits - An Introduction

Workplace accidents can be devastating. They can bring an entire operation to a standstill costing millions of dollars or the results can be even more tragic such as injury or loss of life. Avoiding accidents should be the number one priority in any business and periodic safety audits are one of the best ways to accomplish this.

Every organization should conduct periodic safety audits. A safety audit is an examination of a work area to make sure that safety is optimized. Everything should be checked and all employees should put their best effort into making sure that nothing is missed. The goal should be to make sure that everything is up to OSHA standards and up to the company safety policy.

Successful safety audits involve the complete cooperation of every employee. An outsider might provide insight that is missed by everyday employees, but the employees who actually work in the area being examined are the best voice for what needs to be changed or is unsafe. They will know specific suggestions for how to make operations with the area safe. Most likely, these employees will come up with the best safety procedures when asked. Sometimes employees are reluctant to participate thinking that they are being second guessed and not respected or they think they are in danger of getting into trouble. To get the best result, employees need to be put at ease and the importance of the audit needs to be stressed.

A safety audit shows just how safe work areas actually are. Once everyone's input has been taken into account a report can be issued showing weaknesses and strengths. Weak areas should be corrected as soon as possible. Many times more training is needed and this should be scheduled quickly.

Safety Audits are an important part of all companies overall safety plan. This formal process is imperative to a safe workplace. Without them, weaknesses in the system develop and the likelihood of an accident increases exponentially.