The Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) places a
duty of care on the employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably
practicable, the health and safety of all employees while they are at
work. This also extends to others such as contractors, visitors and the
general public who may be affected by the employers operations. The
requirements on employers include:
Provision and maintenance of a safe workplace,
and safe means of access and exit
Provision and maintenance of safe equipment
and a safe system of work
Provision of adequate instruction, training,
supervision and information
Safe arrangements for storage, transport,
handling and use of articles and substances
Provision for the appointment of safety
representatives and, where requested, a safety committee
Provision of a written safety policy (where
there are five or more employees)
Furthermore the Management of Health and Safety at
Work Regulations (1992) place additional obligations on employers to
implement adequate policies and procedures to ensure that risks to
employees and others are minimised. These regulations require employers
to:
Where necessary have proper emergency
procedures in place
Provide health surveillance where there are
potential risks to employees' health, and take into account
capabilities when assigning tasks
Co-operate in health and safety matters with
others sharing the workplace
Provide information on identified hazards and
controls to employees and others as appropriate, and ensure adequate
training and instruction
Fundamental to instituting all the above
obligations, and underpinning the employer's management of health and
safety is the requirement to undertake a risk assessment of their work
premises and operations. This consists of:
Assessing the workplace for potential hazards
and deciding who might be at risk
Evaluating any risks, and determining whether
further safeguards are required
Recording the findings
Putting into place such arrangements as are
necessary to ensure effective planning, organisation, control,
monitoring and review of the preventative measures identified as a
result of the assessment
The organisation's written Health and Safety
Policy should give an unequivocal commitment to health and safety from
top management and outline the various levels of responsibility for
health and safety from senior management down to individual employees.
It should clearly outline the organisation that will ensure employees
are aware of their responsibilities, and the arrangements for turning
the results of the risk assessment process into action plans for
implementation. The policy should also outline how the health and safety
management arrangements will be audited.
The health and safety audit
The Health and Safety Audit is a way of measuring
the performance of an organisation's health and safety management
systems. It consists of a systematic and thorough programme of
inspections and checks carried out at regular intervals. The audit will
generally require a review of:
Effectiveness of the organisation outlined in
the Health and Safety Policy
Departmental guidelines and standards
developed as a result of the risk assessment process
Relevant regulations and legal obligations
relating to the workplace to ensure they are being met
Staff attitudes to their own and others health
and safety
Effectiveness of staff instruction and
training
Actual working practices to ensure safe
systems of work are in place and are properly utilised
Contingency plans
Recording and provision of information about
accidents and hazards
How to carry out a health and safety audit
Plan the scope and frequency of the audits.
In small, non-complex organisations where there is likely to be
minimal health and safety risk, there may only be the need for a
simple audit held once per year. However in larger more complex
organisations the audit plan may need to be more sophisticated and
individual audits held more frequently. The organisation might
decide that the scope of the audit should involve one or several of
the following:
Investigation of how well health and safety
practices compare with the stated aims, objectives and actions for
implementation as outlined in the safety policy and associated
documents (e.g. departmental guidelines) across the whole area of
operations
Focus on one particular activity or process
across the whole area of operations
Focus specifically on one department or part
of the organisation
Consideration of how well the organisation
complies with one specific health and safety obligation across the
whole or a specific part of the organisation
Consult with Employee Representatives. Employers
have a legal obligation to consult with their employees (even in a
non-unionised workplace) on health and safety matters. Part of this
process should involve discussing and agreeing the audit plan with
staff or their representatives, and their involvement in assisting
the auditors, or even becoming auditors themselves.
Determine the audit methodology. There are
several possibilities which could be explored when deciding on
appropriate methodology.
Develop an in-house system with bespoke
audit checklists and internal auditors drawn from managers and
staff. This has the benefit of being highly specific to the
organisation and should meet its audit needs fairly precisely.
However the organisation may not have the time, resources or
expertise available to undertake this.
Buy in a proprietary system which is likely
to be quicker than developing in-house systems.
Employ appropriate health and safety / risk
management Consultants to design and implement a system for you.
This has all the benefits of a bespoke system, but is easily the
most expensive option.
Select and train auditors. Regardless of
the methodology chosen, it will generally be necessary to select
auditors from company managers, supervisors, health and safety
representatives and where appropriate, shop-floor employees. These
individuals should be experienced in the work operations being
audited, and therefore able to pick up on any health and safety
issues fairly readily. Training will need to be delivered on the
audit system and on ensuring consistency in its application.
Implement the audit. Generally speaking,
it is often better to pair or team up auditors and allocate them to
an area where they would not normally work. (However, it can also be
effective to ask department managers to audit and report on their
own department; this can help to focus their mind on key health and
safety issues). The audit should be an open process, and staff
should be aware of the auditors coming and what they will be doing.
However the auditors may wish to build in an element of spot
checking, or random sampling to cover specific problems such as
inadequate use of protective clothing, machine guards etc.
Take action on the outcome of the audit.
Once completed the results of the audit should be collated and the
following actions taken:
Immediate remedial action instigated for
urgent health and safety breaches
Information on particular areas of concern
should be communicated to the department manager for action
A report should be prepared for senior
management, safety / employee representatives and the Safety
Committee on the findings of the audit. This should also compare
the results of previous audits and highlight areas of improvement
or deterioration.
The ongoing arrangements for the management
of health and safety in the organisation as outlined in the Health
and Safety Policy should also be reviewed in light of the audit
outcomes to ensure these remain effective
The audit process can be a very effective way of
monitoring health and safety within an organisation and if used properly
can lead to a cycle of continuous improvement. However it is important
that the ongoing responsibility that everyone throughout the
organisation has for health and safety is not weakened by a tendency to
leave taking action until the next audit comes around.
About Tip for the Top
Tip for the Top is published in "Suffolk Business
Magazine" where Lina Hogg is a regular contributor.
