When you run a business, it’s important to understand your health and safety obligations. It’s vital that all types of workplaces operate in a healthy and safe way, and strict governing standards define this level of operation. In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for setting Health and Safety legislation, monitoring its adherence and ensuring good practices. It can also prosecute businesses that fail to adhere to health and safety legislation, such as the Health & Safety Act.
What is the role of health and safety audits?
Health and safety audits form a key part of businesses’ health and safety processes and management systems. When a business or organisation carries out a health and safety audit, it can improve its safety performance by identifying focus areas for development and opportunities to improve.
In this article, we will look at health and safety audits in 2023, consider their role and benefits, and look at how organisations can perform these vital audits for the best possible results.
What is a health and safety audit?
A health and safety audit is a formal inspection and assessment of an organisation’s health and safety practices, protocols and systems.
UK legislation obliges all organisations to have a health and safety policy and supporting procedures in place. The H&S audit is used to check this policy and to make sure it is fit for purpose. The audit also assesses organisational working practices and procedures against the detail of the legislation and flags up any areas of the business that need further review and improvement.
The objectives of the health and safety audit can be summarised as the opportunity to:
- Review the company’s H&S policy and supporting practices and procedures
- See how well employees are following the policy and procedures
- Identify any issues or gaps in the health and safety management system
What are the different kinds of H&S audit?
There are internal and external health and safety audits, as follows:
– Internal H&S audits are carried out by internal leads, such as the company Health and Safety manager.
– External audits are carried out by external third-party bodies such as independent health and safety agencies. These bodies may specialise in certain sectors for highly targeted advice.
Is one type of audit better than another?
Very often, businesses will invest in internal and external audits. The internal audit will be carried out by internal leads on a regular basis to keep a check on the efficiency of the existing policy and systems. The external audit may be chargeable, but it acts as a vital safety check and confirmation that the organisation’s perception of its own adherence to Health and Safety standards and culture is accurate. External H&S consultants can provide valuable ideas, expertise, guidance and insights that might not be accessible within the organisation. For example, they can advise on emerging good practices, flag up forthcoming changes to legislation and offer guidance on new IT systems for health and safety training and compliance.
Who can carry out health and safety audits?
For an internal audit, the nominated health and safety lead will usually lead the audit process, as it will naturally sit within their role. This could be a director or manager, depending on the organisation’s structure of size. The audit could be done at a departmental level, with support from departmental leads, and it could be done organisation-wide, perhaps in advance of an external audit. For external audits, auditors will have relevant qualifications and accreditation. This could be a degree or post-graduate qualification accredited by organisations such as NEBOSH or the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. Accredited health and safety consultants are listed on the Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR).
What happens during an H&S audit?
Whether the audit is internal or external, a similar approach may be taken. Essentially, the auditor will be reviewing the organisation’s health and safety policies, procedures and practices and checking they adhere to relevant legislation. The ways that this could be done include:
- Reviewing all relevant organisational documentation such as policies, procedures, standards and training manuals
- Observing working practices as they take place around the business, to check that employees are clearly following the health and safety policies and procedures
- Carrying out direct interviews with managers and employees to check for understanding and awareness about the H&S culture, training requirements, work standards and other relevant types of evidence, that show the H&S system and culture are working within the business.
Once the auditor has carried out the audit, they will draw up a detailed report for the commissioning leads within the business. This will usually be accompanied by an action plan. The action plan may use a system such as the RAG (red, amber, green) system to flag up any recommendations for further development or remedy, with priority flagging.
Why do organisations carry out H&S audits?
There are various benefits for organisations in carrying out H&S compliance audits. Some of the main benefits are as follows:
– Audits ensure that businesses and organisations are actually adhering to the requirements of H&S legislation. This legislation is detailed and far-reaching and it contains specific requirements for different industries. The implications of not following the rules are severe and include hefty fines and even custodial sentences for responsible directors.
– Audits ensure that H&S policies are up to date and in line with all existing working practices
– They are also valuable if a workplace accident has occurred, and an audit can be used to identify what went wrong and what the root cause of the incident was. Remedial measures can then be put into place and the organisation can evidence its responsible working practice and a clear commitment to an H&S culture.
– Audits flag up any potential hazards or risks, as these can emerge over time – whether that’s as simple as an overflowing storage cupboard making a walkway dangerous, or incorrect safety practices on a factory line.
– They also identify areas that can be further improved to make even stronger and more robust health and safety practices and a better overall working environment.
– Audits show that there is a strong management commitment across all levels of the organisation and that commitment to a true H&S culture is meaningful.
– Audits also demonstrate to partners, suppliers and other stakeholders that the business is a quality-driven one, that really invests in the well-being of its employees and everyone else that comes into contact with the organisation, including customers.
When should a business carry out an H&S audit?
Currently, there is a legal mandate that sets out a timetable for audits. However, most organisations recognise their inherent benefits and try to do a full H&S audit annually. For some businesses, particularly those that are by their nature more hazardous (such as factory operations, chemicals businesses, agricultural processing firms etc) the audits may be more frequent. As well as an annual schedule of ‘business as usual’ health and safety audits, there are other occasions when a business might choose to do an audit. For example:
- After an accident has occurred in the business
- If a concern has been flagged about the business’s practices
- When the organisation changes what it does in some way, such as by introducing new working practices
- After a programme of health and safety training, to measure the effectiveness of the training
- When new equipment or machinery is introduced to the business
- When the organisation changes fundamentally in some way, such as by merging with another business or acquiring another business.
Possible steps to conducting an effective H&S audit
Every business will follow its own approach to conducting a Health and Safety audit, but these can be good steps for success.
- Identify the nominated audit lead and assemble a team
Usually, the audit lead will be the nominated external consultant or health and safety manager or assessor for the organisation. The supporting audit team should ideally be from a different department or business area to the function that is being assessed. With external audits, the lead auditor will usually discuss with you who should be involved from your organisation. This is important to bring fresh eyes and impartiality to the assessment function. For example, if a factory maintenance and engineering function was being assessed, the warehouse packing team might sit on the audit team.
- Review the latest government legislation
The government regularly updates its health and safety legislation via the HSE. Many of these laws and regulations vary according to the nature of the organisation and its business. For example, some businesses work with hazardous waste that needs to be disposed of in very specific ways. Others work with food ingredients that must be managed and stored to tightly defined standards. By assessing the detail of the legislation before you begin the audit, you can ensure you are measuring the right things, to the right standards.
- Assess the organisational H&S documentation
Gather the H&S documentation, policies and procedures for the department or business area that is being audited. This could include documentation that sits alongside the H&S policy itself, such as safety training records, risk assessment logs and accident or incident records. This stage helps the auditors to work out what should be assessed, for the most comprehensive audit process.
- Decide which areas to audit
The audit team and lead will then decide which H&S practices in the organisation they will audit. This could be an overall H&S management system, first aid provision or employee health and safety training. This will help to focus the audit and will depend on the specific activities – and focus – of the audit. For example, if the audit is in response to a certain incident, then it makes sense to focus on the processes and procedures that are linked to the functional area of the incident. Find out more about Occupational Health.
- Agree on the process
Delegate roles on the audit team, agreeing on who will take responsibility for each area of the assessment and which assessment processes they will follow. The approach will depend on the nature of the audit. For example, to assess whether employees understand new H&S training, interviews or a test could be a good approach. For a machinery assessment, a visual inspection might be best.
- Schedule and plan the audit
Because the audit processes usually involve being on the operation floor and engaging with employees, it’s important to plan the audit for a time when the workplace is fully functional and when staff are present, but when there isn’t a peak time of business. The purpose of the audit is to support the business rather than to stress it or to impact delivery. The exception might be if the audit is of an emergency nature, such as in response to a workplace accident.
- Carry out the audit
The planned audit should be carried out in the way it has been agreed, against relevant legislation and safety standards. It’s vital to be objective and to look for areas of health and safety management that are positive and that need development. Where potentially difficult conversations need to be had with senior individuals within the business, delegated audit team members with the necessary expertise do to this should be matched to the task.
- Report the findings
The report findings will need to be written up into a report. In the report body, add details of the audit areas that were assessed and your findings. Explain whether the assessed practices were compliant, flag up good practices and explain whether any failings, concerns or areas for improvements were found. Add supporting documentation such as visual inspection logs, interview transcripts and questionnaires for review. Detail recommendations for next steps and improvements.
- Present the findings back
The report and findings should be presented back to the organisation’s senior management team. They may wish to talk through the findings of the audit and the recommendations, particularly to discuss any concern areas in more detail. They may also wish to give feedback on the audit process itself and the way that it was carried out. The management team can then decide which next steps they will take on the back of the report evaluation. For example, further training needs may be identified.
Further resources
The government website is a good, centralised location for national legislation and guidance.
The Health and Safety Executive also has its own website.
For targeted H&S consultancy, training, audit support and other health and safety services contact.