Safety Auditing

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Safety Auditing for High-Risk Industries
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Presented by Yvan Desrochers, P.Eng.
President of URM
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• What is meant by the term
• Safety Auditing ?

• Depending on the local jargon, anything from
• Workplace Inspections
• Work Observations
• Employee Perception Surveys
• Regulatory Compliance Audits
• Safety Management Audits

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Safety Auditing

• In order to achieve our auditing objective, we
  must know what we want to accomplish and we must
  understand the difference between
• Workplace Inspections
• Work Observations
• Employee Perception Surveys
• Regulatory Compliance Audits
• Safety Management Audits

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• Workplace Inspections

What Is It? A visual inspection of the
condition of the facilities, equipment and
tools. The inspectors are searching for hazards
that are inherent to the workplace, as well as
signs of deterioration and defects.
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• Work Observations

What Is It? An assessment of the workers
safety performance while they are doing
work. The observers are searching for hazards
that are created during work activities, as well
as adherence to safe work practices.
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• Employee Perception Surveys

What Is It? An evaluation of the workers
opinions regarding different aspects of the
organizations safety culture. How do they
feel? The surveys include questionnaires that
are analyzed to determine the major concerns
among the different worker groups.
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• Regulatory Compliance Audits

• What Is It?
• An assessment of the organizations compliance
  with federal, state/provincial and local safety
  health regulations.
• The assessment incorporates
• workplace inspections,
• work observations, and
• includes documentation reviews
• (policies, programs, forms, records).

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• Safety Management Audits

• What Is It?
• An assessment of the quality and effectiveness
  of the organizations safety health programs.
• The assessment incorporates
• workplace inspections,
• work observations,
• documentation reviews, and
• includes interviews with managers, supervisors
  and workers.

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Lets look at the application of each type of
audit.
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• Workplace Inspections

• Requirements
• Inspectors should be knowledgeable of the hazards
  inherent to the workplace.
• Inspections should be conducted with an employee
  familiar with the facilities.
• Inspectors should use site-specific forms that
  lists the equipment and hazards that may be
  present.

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• Workplace Inspections

• Methodology
• Identify the hazards inherent to the facility and
  evaluate the effectiveness of barriers
  controls.
• Dynamic environments should be inspected at least
  quarterly, while static environments may require
  only annual inspections.
• Priority should be given to facilities that may
  expose workers to the greatest risk.

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• Workplace Inspections

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• Work Observations

• Requirements
• Observers should be knowledgeable of the work
  methods being observed.
• This is a line management responsibility i.e.,
  supervisors and managers.
• Peer group observation programs DONT WORK since
  they undermine line management responsibility.

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• Work Observations

• Methodology
• The primary focus should be to coach and correct
  unsafe acts/behaviors.
• Observers should record observations on a form
  that lists the critical items to be observed.
• The observation should conclude with an on-site
  discussion of the findings with the workers.

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• Work Observations

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• Employee Perception Surveys

• Methodology
• Requires a questionnaire which addresses various
  aspects of the organizations safety culture.
• The responses are assigned a score (e.g. 1 to 5)
  to enable statistical analysis.
• The results are presented in graphs and tables to
  highlight significantly low scores or large gaps
  in perception of workers versus management.

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Employee Perception Surveys
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• Regulatory Compliance Audits

• Scope
• Identifies all applicable Federal and State
  safety regulations, as well as national standards
  and codes.
• Assesses the organizations level of compliance
  with safety regulations, standards and codes.
• Provides due diligence defense in case of a
  serious accident.

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• Regulatory Compliance Audits

• Include OSHA Regulations
• 1910.269 Sections (a) to (w)
• 1910.146 Confined Spaces
• 1910.38 Emergency Action Plans
• 1910.1200 Hazardous Materials Communication
• 1910.132-138 Protective Equipment
• 1904.7 Accident Reporting
• 1910.95 Noise Control
• 1910.212 Machine Guarding
• 1910.252 Welding, Cutting and Brazing
• 1910.333 Electrical Safety Related to Work
  Practices

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• Regulatory Compliance Audits

• Information Gathering
• Begin with documentation review of corporate
  policies and programs.
• Conduct sample field verification for compliance
  with regulations, policies and programs.
  Include
• workplace inspections,
• work observations, and
• documentation review of completed forms and
  record keeping.

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• Regulatory Compliance Audits

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• Safety Management Audits

• Scope
• Compare the organizations safety program
  activities to a model of performance excellence.
• The protocol questions should be designed for the
  Utility Industry i.e.,
• Apply to construction and maintenance work
  forces.
• Account for the dynamics of mobile work crews and
  constantly changing work locations.

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SAFE WORK Management System
Leadership Culture
Risk Management
Education Communication
Control Protection
Monitoring Measurement
Management Training
Protective Equipment
Safety Design Analysis
Management Commitment
Safe Work Observations
Incident Investigations
Employee Training
Inspections Maintenance
Safety Strategies
Rules and Regulations
Safety Meetings
Occupational Health
Work Procedures
Joint HS Committees
Statistical Analysis
Health Safety Promotion
Emergency Preparedness
Hazardous Energy Control
Audits Assessments
Public Safety
Contractor Safety
Job Safety Planning
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• Safety Management Audits

• Audit Protocols
• The safety management audit should be
  comprehensive e.g. the URM audit consists of
• 22 elements,
• 91 sections and
• 305 protocol questions.

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• Safety Management Audits

• Information Gathering
• Begin with documentation review of corporate
  policies and programs.
• Conduct sample field verification for
  effectiveness of safety program activities
• workplace inspections,
• work observations,
• documentation reviews, and
• personnel interviews.

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• Safety Management Audits

• Audit Reports
• Achievements recognize the successes in the
  safety management programs.
• Improvement Opportunities identify specific
  deficiencies in the managed system.
• Recommendations should be prioritized based on
  the beneficial impact on safe work.
• Performance Ratings should be provided for each
  element and for the overall system.

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• Safety Management Audits

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• Safety Management Audits

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• Safety Management Audits

• Use of Professional Judgement
• A Safety Management Audit should assess more than
  the mere existence of safety programs. It should
  also examine the quality and effectiveness of the
  program activities.
• Every audit protocols question should require the
  auditor to use his/her professional judgement.
  Otherwise, it is merely a paint-by-number audit.

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Focus on Safe Work

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For more information Contact Yvan Desrochers
at 819-682-6568 Email ydesrochers_at_urmconsulting
.com