Performing a Safety Audit in the Workplace

ABSTRACT

Continual improvement is an essential precondition for each safety audit system that seeks to reap lasting success in today’s rapidly evolving society. The best guarantee for a dynamic system of continuous improvement and constant flexibility is the full commitment of competent employees who grow with the overall organization because their efforts are systematically valorized and because they are given the opportunities to develop and regularly update their skills. Within the safety audit process, the best guarantee of lasting results is the development of a learning organization in which both the employees and the organization continue to learn and evolve.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1
1.1 Problem statement --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1
1.2 Aims and Objectives ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2
1.3 Significance of the study ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2

Chapter 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3
2.1 Safety audits and management audits ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3
2.2 New opinions concerning organisation and safety ------------------------------------------------ 3
2.3 Organisational safety ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
2.4 From product control to total quality management --------------------------------------------------7
2.5 From human error to integrated safety --------------------------------------------------------------- 8
2.6 Integrated safety ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9
2.7 Safety and management audits ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
2.8 The Pellenberg audit system ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14
2.9 Hazard analysis: The accident causation model --------------------------------------------------- 19
2.10 The causation model --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24

Chapter 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26
3.1 Audits-Purpose ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26
3.2 Gathering information ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------27
3.3 Making judgments------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 28

Chapter 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30
4.1 Audits (BS OHSAS 18001 Requirements) --------------------------------------------------------- 30
4.2 Process of performing a safety audit on any chosen workplace --------------------------------- 32
4.3 Hints for implementation ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 37
4.4 Consumer non-conformances ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 37
4.5 Self-assessment questions ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 38

Chapter 5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39
5.1 Recommendation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39
5.2 Conclusion ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39

References --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 40
Appendix A ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 41