ELEMENT

Health and Safety Monitoring and Measuring 4 71

ELEMENT 4

HEALTH AND SAFETY 04

MONITORING AND
MEASURING

Learning Outcomes:

4.1.  iscuss common methods and indicators used to monitor the effectiveness of
D
management systems

4.2. Explain why and how incidents should be investigated, recorded and reported

4.3.  xplain what an audit is and why and how it is used to evaluate a management
E
system

4.4.  xplain why and how regular reviews of health and safety performance are
E
needed

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72 NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety
4.1 Active and Reactive
Monitoring
The Differences between Active and
Reactive Monitoring
We have seen previously that an organizations health
and safety management system is based on the P-D-C-A
Cycle. In this element we will be introducing ourselves to
the Check part or the monitoring of the health and safety
management system.
Managers need to check the organizations performance
so as to verify whether the targets set have been met or
still something needs to be done to achieve them. This
check can be done by active and reactive monitoring.
Health and Safety Monitoring Methods:
Active Monitoring:
This is done actively before something goes wrong,
involves routine inspections and checks to ensure that
standards are met, policies are implemented and the
controls are adequate to take care of the risks present. It
measures the Progress
Reactive Monitoring:
This is done after something goes wrong, like for
example an accident or an ill health event. This helps the
organization to learn from mistakes and put measures in
place to prevent its recurrence. It measures the Failures.
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Active monitoring methods (health
and safety inspections, sampling
and tours) and their usefulness
Following is the list of different active monitoring methods.
 Safety Inspections
 Safety Tour
 Safety Sampling
Most of the active monitoring methods gather information
by looking at the following three aspects:
 Documentation: by examining records, reports and
documents.
 Interview: by speaking to people concerned to gauge
their views and opinions and,
 Observation: by looking at peoples’ behaviour and the
conditions present, in other works looking at unsafe
acts and conditions.
Active monitoring will thus help us in actively monitoring
the workplace and help us prevent any untoward incidents.
Now the questions rises is, what is to be measured and
how are they going to be measured. We will now answer
both of these questions.
What is Going to be Measured: Creating
our Own Performance Standards:
Every organizations work type and culture is different
and what is measured by one organization need not be
measured by another. As such the products, processes
and environment also differs. The following are some
examples of performance standards which can be used for
active monitoring:
 We can monitor whether health and safety training
has been imparted as per the agreed training
calendar.
 Housekeeping can be monitored by dividing the
organization into various zones and comparing each
zone against a set checklist
 Checking the quality and number of risk assessments
 Checking whether safety inspections are happening
as per the schedule
 Checking if safety rounds have been conducted
 Whether workers are undergoing medical surveillance
as per the schedule
Once the performance standards are set, then we can go
about systematically checking them.
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 Health and Safety Monitoring and Measuring
Active (Proactive) Monitoring Methods in
Detail:
1. Safety Inspections:
The term, safety inspection means a regular, scheduled
activity and there is a comparison done to some standards
to confirm acceptability.
A safety inspection involves the straightforward
observation of a workplace and/or the activities or
equipment within it with the aim of identifying hazards
& assessing the use and effectiveness of control
measures. It is usually carried out by a manager, employee
representative and Safety Advisor and is often aided by
the use of a checklist.
Safety inspections could be ‘routine’ which could be done
to check say the housekeeping standards of a workplace.
It could be either a ‘periodic’ inspection which is done at
a regular interval or a ‘pre-use check which is done at the
start of every shift. It could also be ‘statutory’ inspection
to fulfill a legal requirement.
Types of Safety Inspections:
 Routine Inspection: To determine if general
standards of health and safety are acceptable or
if corrective action is necessary (e.g. a quarterly
housekeeping inspection in an office).
 Statutory Inspection is performed by a competent
person to fulfill a legal requirement (e.g. the
annual thorough examination of an item of lifting
equipment).
 Periodic Inspection of plant and machinery as part
of a planned maintenance program (e.g. a mechanic
inspects the brakes on a lorry on regular basis to
ensure they are not excessively worn).
 Pre-use-checks carried out by workers before they
use certain items of plant and machinery (e.g. the
startup checks carried out by a forklift truck driver).
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How to Carry out Systematic Inspections?
To ensure that while carrying out an inspection, nothing is
missed out, one way of doing this is by using the concept
of the 4Ps.
 Plants and substances - which include work
equipment, manual and mechanical handling
equipment, vehicles, dangerous and flammable
materials and hazardous substances.
 Premises - which include access, egress, working
environment and housekeeping areas
 Procedures - which include risk assessments, permit
to work, contractor management etc.
 People - which include primarily the behaviour of the
people, their training and ability and if they are vulnerable.
Now, the above 4Ps inspections might be done in such 04
a way as to all four elements are covered in a single
inspection or each of these elements may be inspected
separately, for e.g:
 A daily inspection (plant) may be carried out of the
fork lift trucks before start of operation each day by
the operator.
 Supervisors can check the behaviour of the people
once every week or fortnight.
 There could be random check of the procedures used
maybe once every week.
 A weekly round may be carried out to ensure that the
normal entrances/exits and the fire exits (premises)
are free of any hindrances and hazards.
The Arrangements Required to carry out
the Workplace Inspection
Who will do the Inspection: Along with the type of
inspection it is also necessary to give specific responsibility
for each type of inspection. For example pre-use inspection
is done by the operators themselves, while monitoring
the behaviour of the workers is done by supervisors and
likewise a thorough check of a portable electrical machine
is done by maintenance.
 The competence of the inspector- this is essential
to meet the objectives of the monitoring. A person
needs to be trained on how to carry out the
inspection correctly and should be clear as to what is
acceptable and what is not. He may also require to be
certified and a record needs to be maintained of any
training given.
 The objectivity of the inspector- An inspector needs
to be impartial and objective while carrying out an
inspection.
The person carrying out an inspection should have the
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necessary
 Training
 Knowledge and experience
 Certification to a specific standard
 Understanding of the workplace
 Health & Safety principles
 Willingness to ask questions
 Impartial and objective in their approach even in a
familiar area
Frequency of Inspection:
This depends upon the type of inspection and the hazards
present. For example an office would require less frequent
inspections compared to a workshop, while the inspection
of a hazardous chemical storage area requires to be done
even more frequently. Other things to be considered are
the manufacturers’ recommendations and if there is any
law to govern the frequency, for example a statutory
inspection of a crane needs to be done once every year.
Factors to be taken into Account while
Determining the Frequency of Inspection:
 The level of risks in the activity.
 The manufacturers’ recommendations.
 The companies’ own internal policy.
 In some cases the countries laws may determine the
frequency.
 Inspection and audit findings may suggest a higher
frequency.
 Previous accident history and results of investigations.
 Complaints from workers.
 Risk assessments may suggest Inspections
Tools Required for Inspection - The
Checklist:
Checklists are good tools to ensure the systematic and
correct inspection of the workplace. The following are the
merits of using the checklist:
 Checklists ensure that nothing is missed out during
inspection.
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 A lesser competent inspector can do the inspection,
provided that the checklist is created by an expert.
 Checklists themselves become a standard, with which
the actual situation can be compared with and there
is also consistency of approach.
 Finally a filled up checklist becomes a record for
future reference.
However, there are certain drawbacks of checklists that
we should be aware of:
 Checklists need to be reviewed and revised regularly
as processes and procedures change. This may not
happen and older checklists may be used, thereby
overlooking certain new hazards.
 Checklists could be filled up from the desk without
any actual inspection.
 Inspectors may overlook certain hazards which not be
mentioned in the checklist.
Typical Topics that might be Included in a
Generic Safety Inspection Checklist
 Housekeeping- cleanliness of the aisle, proper storage
of material.
 Fire- Escape routes, emergency procedures, fire
detection, firefighting, proper storage of flammable
materials.
 Chemicals- correct storage and usage, compliance to
PPE.
 Electrical- proper usage of portable tools, use of
protective devices.
 Environment- adequate lighting, noise and dust
controls and space.
 Vehicles- segregation of pedestrians, pedestrian
crossing zones, vehicle parking areas.
Action Plan for the Issues Identified:
Post inspection there should be arrangements to rectify
the problems that may have been identified during the
inspection. The problems identified should be prioritized
and the same should be followed up until the controls are
implemented.
Active Monitoring Techniques (Contd.):
2. Safety Sampling:
A safety sampling is done to save on time as the inspector
looks onto a representative sample and depending upon
the sample been acceptable or not the inspector could
decide on compliance or non-compliance. For ex: if a
construction site has 25 different types of ladders, 2 may
be picked up by an inspector to check for compliance for
safety norms and thus concludes that all of the ladders
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 Health and Safety Monitoring and Measuring
are compliant. But safety sampling cannot replace 100%
inspection. It goes without saying that somebody had
to do the 100% inspection and only to ensure that this
inspection is been done correctly a random sample is
picked up and confirmed.
3. Safety Tours:
This term implies a routine unplanned round taken by a high
ranking manager. The manager can take along with him
the line manager, supervisor and workers representative.
The main objective of this tour is for the observation of
workers’ behaviour and promotes consultation and shows
visible leadership of the management.
Reactive Monitoring Measures and
their Usefulness:
This is done to learn from past incidences and prevent it
from happening in the future. The reports generated from
reactive monitoring denotes the failures of the systems
and ineffectiveness of the control measures
Reactive monitoring examines the following to measure
health and safety performance
 Accident data
 Ill health data
 Absenteeism data
 Claims records
 Number of complaints reported
 Prosecutions
 Enforcement notices
Evaluation of Performance by using
Incident Data Statistics:
The data on above reactive methods can be analyzed from:
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 Lessons learnt from a single incident or
 Lessons learnt from incidents as a whole that has
happened, say in the last three years.
Data can be converted into trends which can tell the
organization whether the numbers of incidents are
showing an upward or a downward trend or
Data can generate hot spots so as to know, what areas of
the organization require specific management attention
so as to improve the safety performance.
The data collected needs to be converted into certain
indices to enable meaningful comparison. There are
different indices that industries generate for comparison.
One among them is the ‘accident incidence rate’ or the
AIR. Following is the formula:
AIR = (Number of accidents in the given period/ the
04
average number of people in the given period) x 1000.
This formula converts the incident data into a figure that
would be equivalent for every 1000 workers, thus allowing
for comparison of data within each organization and
across organization.
Benefits of Collecting Near Miss Data:
We can identify underlying causes which may allow
preventative action to be taken before something more
serious occurs. It gives message to workforce that all
failures are taken seriously not just those leading to injury.
Generally accepted near misses greatly outnumber
accidents and can therefore produce more data from
which a greater understanding of the deficiencies in
management systems can be identified and rectified
Evaluation of Performance by Looking at
the Enforcement Action:
The number of enforcement actions over the last several
years can also be converted into trends so as to analyze
whether it is rising and if yes to find out the reasons for the
same. The fines issued by courts are also worth analyzing.
Evaluation of the Performance by Looking
at the Civil Claims:
Workers or others affected by the organizations activities
can approach the civil court against the employer to
claim for compensation. Organizations may also track the
number of civil claims year on year and the total amounts
paid to compare their performance reactively.
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Why lessons need to be learnt from The Difference between Leading and
beneficial and adverse events. Lagging Indicators
What are Beneficial and Adverse Events?
Sr.
Organizations with positive culture are always striving Leading indicator Lagging indicator
No.
to improve their health and safety performance. The
steps thus taken may result in the safety performance to 1 A leading indicator is Lagging indicators are
improve, like for e.g. a reduction in reportable accidents, proactive in nature. measurements that
or a decrease in compensation payments as a result of They include safety include data from the
reduced incidents and claims etc. These events which lead initiatives or reported past. They include
to improved performance are known as beneficial events. activities, with the goal of incidents and accidents
preventing unfavourable statistics.
While adverse events are those that lead to deterioration
events before they
of the health and safety performance. For e.g. an increase
happen.
in ill health or a large number of fire incidents.
2 Leading indicators are Lagging indicators
 The Lessons learned from both beneficial and adverse
generated as a result are generated as a
events is the learning gained from the process that is
of active monitoring result of reactive
applied.
activities like safety monitoring activities
 Each failure or success needs to be analysed, so that inspections, preventive like measuring hours
what has been done correctly and what has been not maintenance etc. lost due to reportable
is known to the organization. injuries.
 Beneficial events will give the confidence to the
management to replicate the processes that lead to 3 Leading Indicators can Examples of Lagging
such benefits all throughout the organization. For e.g. include: Indicators:
if the organization finds that the implementation of  Number and type  Injury Frequency
a new fire checklist has drastically brought down the of Safety Trainings and Severity
number of fire incidents, then the same may be taken completed vs planned  Lost Workdays
up by all the departments.
 Results of  Reportable
 Similarly, adverse events are something which needs Behavioural Audits incidents
to be investigated and the root causes needs to be
 Results of Safety  Employees
evaluated. The learning’s from such events and the
Audits compensation cost
ways to prevent it should be communicated across
the organization so that it does not repeat again.  Number of Toolbox  Chemical releases
Talks done vs planned
 Organizations understand that they will benefit
from better knowledge of accidents if they, in turn,  Participation in Safety
commit to improve their approaches to investigation, Committee
including the way these generate recommendations  Equipment/Machinery
and reports. The consequence should be lessons Maintenance vs
being learned, improvements made, fewer accidents planned
and so reduction in losses.  Hazard Identification
 Lessons learnt need not be only from events within & Risk Assessments
the organization but also from adverse and beneficial
incidents outside the organization. 4 Leading indicators will The results of the
help to improve safety lagging indicators
Organizations, thus take advantage of the key learning
through awareness will prove to the
opportunities given by both adverse and beneficial events.
and prevention and will management that the
In fact, it is a key feature of the P-D-C-A cycle which leads
show stakeholders that steps taken to improve
to continual improvement.
the company is taking occupational health
proactive steps to achieve and safety is actually
excellence in safety. working.

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 Health and Safety Monitoring and Measuring
4.2 Investigating Incidents
This course concentrated in prevention of accidents till
now, but in spite of our best efforts, still accidents may
happen and same could lead to injury or damage to
property.
When an incident happens, it is important on the part of
the organization to record it correctly and investigate it to
avoid a recurrence.
Clearly, there are good financial reasons for reducing
accidents and ill health. Costing show that for every Rs.
100/- a business spends on insured costs, it can be losing
between Rs.800/- and Rs.3600/- in uninsured costs.
The same accidents happen again and again, causing
suffering and distress to an ever-widening circle of
workers and their families. The investigation and analysis
of work-related accidents and incidents forms an essential
part of managing health and safety. However, learning
the lessons from what you uncover is at the heart of
preventing accidents and incidents. Identify what is wrong
and take positive steps to put it right.
Carrying out our own health and safety investigations
will provide us with a deeper understanding of the risks
associated with our work activities. Blaming individuals is
ultimately fruitless and sustains the myth that accidents
and cases of ill health are unavoidable when the opposite
is true. Well thought-out risk control measures, combined
with adequate supervision, monitoring and effective
management (i.e. our risk management system) will
ensure that our work activities are safe. Health and safety
investigations are an important tool in developing and
refining our risk management system.
An effective investigation requires a methodical,
structured approach to information gathering, collation
and analysis. The findings of the investigation will form the
basis of an action plan to prevent the accident or incident
from happening again and for improving our overall
management of risk. Our findings will also point to areas
of our risk assessments that need to be reviewed. This link
with risk assessment(s) is also a legal requirement.
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Role and Function of Investigation:
An incident investigation plays the following roles:
 It is a reactive monitoring technique and hence
presents the organization with valuable data for
analysis (trends).
 A proper investigation helps us understand why
the incident happened and what could be done to
prevent it in the future.
 An incident would generally point out to a failure in
the risk assessments, at the same time the results
of an incident investigation will tell us what changes
needs to be done in the risk assessment by means of
additional or enhanced control measures.
 An investigation ensures that the staff isn’t
demoralized by the incident. 04
 Internally a company has to decide on disciplinary
measures against workers who may have played a
part in the accident. Investigations are not to be
carried out for putting blame on workers, but it
definitely throws light on who needs to be disciplined.
 An incident investigation is also a legal requirement.
 To process a claim from the insurance agency, an
investigation is required.
 Incident investigation helps in calculating the costs of
accidents.
Reporting of Incidents Plays the following
Role:
 To preserve the accident scene for future
investigations.
 To meet the legal requirement to report incidents.
 To trigger the provisions of first-aid treatment.
Different Levels of Investigations:
Minimal, Low, Medium and High
(With reference to HSG245)
The table below will assist you in determining the level
of investigation which is appropriate for the adverse
event. Remember you must consider the worst potential
consequences of the adverse event (e.g. a scaffold collapse
may not have caused any injuries, but had the potential to
cause major or fatal injuries).
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 In a minimal level investigation, the relevant
supervisor will look into the circumstances of the
event and try to learn any lessons which will prevent
future occurrences.\
 A low-level investigation will involve a short
investigation by the relevant supervisor or line manager
into the circumstances and immediate, underlying and
root causes of the adverse event, to try to prevent a
recurrence and to learn any general lessons.
 A medium-level investigation will involve a more
detailed investigation by the relevant supervisor
or line manager, the health and safety adviser and
employee representatives and will look for the
immediate, underlying and root causes.
 A high-level investigation will involve a team-
based investigation, involving supervisors or line
managers, health and safety advisers and employee
representatives. It will be carried out under the
supervision of senior management or directors and will
look for the immediate, underlying, and root causes.
Basic Incident Investigation Steps:
Before an incident investigation can start, the following
things needs to be considered:
1. Gathering the information
2. Analysing the information
3. Identifying risk control measures
4. The action plan and its implementation
Step 1: Gathering the Information
Information can be gathered by looking at the following
three things:
 Observation.
 Interviews.
 Documentation.
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Observation:
The scene of the incident needs to be approached and
physical evidence needs to be gathered, investigators may
observe for ex; a patch of oil or a broken tool or a tripped
off circuit breaker etc. These will be vital clues and aid
finding out the root cause of the incident.
To aid in these observations an investigator needs to come
prepared with appropriate equipment like:
 Cameras to capture the scene.
 Measuring tape to take measurements.
 Pen and notebook to take down the observation and
make sketches.
Interview:
There may be one or several witnesses to an incident.
Interviewing these witnesses provides with substantial
clues as to what caused the incident. Witnesses need to
be interviewed at the appropriate time, some witnesses
may be in shock and may not be able to respond to
queries adequately- this needs to be considered by the
investigators.
Following is the technique to be followed while conducting
a witness interview:
 Interview to be carried out in a quiet room away
from the accident spot, so that there can be proper
interaction with minimum distractions.
 The interviewer should then introduce himself, and
clear the purpose of the interview as something of
a fact finding mission, rather than a fault finding
mission. Emphasis should be laid out on the fact that
the interview is important so as to find out the cause
of the incident and avoid it from happening again.
 The interview is to be recorded and signed at the end
of the session as a record.
 The interview should be carried out using open ended
questions like ‘What’, ‘where’, ‘why’ etc. This is to
prevent putting words into the witnesses’ mouth and
allow him to openly express his opinion.
 The interviewer should keep an open mind and not
jump into conclusions.
 End the interview by thanking the witness.
Documentation:
Records and documentation will have to be referred so
as to substantiate the physical and verbal evidence with
written records. The records could be varied and exhaustive
(depends upon the type of accident and the depth of
investigation). In general the following documents may be
checked and examined:
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 The relevant policies of an unauthorized access aisle, not looking where he’s
 Employee training records going, and heads towards a fire exit – a short cut to the
 Maintenance records car park.

 Sickness and absenteeism records The forklift truck driver sees the man at the last minute
 Risk assessments and brakes hard, but skids on a patch of oil left by a leaking

 Safe system of work forklift. He comes to an abrupt stop and the load falls onto the
warehouse operative, breaking his arm and bruising his leg.
 Site plans and layout
 Active monitoring records In this example the immediate causes are:

 Struck by the load

Step 2: Analysing the Information
 Load falling
The information gathered from the above, and then needs
to be analysed so as to find out the causes of the incident.  Forklift skidding
The causes of the incident are most commonly divided  Patch of oil
into:  Braking hard
 Immediate causes  Using the unauthorized aisle 04
 Underlying causes  Speed
 Root causes The underlying causes are:

Immediate Causes:  Forklift leaking

This as the name suggests is the immediate reason for the
cause of the accident. Let’s take that an operator hurt his
finger while operating machinery. This would have been
caused by a guard not present or the guard removed.
The immediate causes are the result of ‘unsafe acts’ and
‘unsafe conditions’. In this case the unsafe act is removal
of the guard, and the unsafe condition would be guard not
provided in the first place itself.
Underlying Causes:
These are the causes which are behind the immediate
causes. These could be like time pressures to complete the
task, not enough training or lack of maintenance.
Root Causes:
These would normally point towards management
deficiencies like no policy for training, no preventive
maintenance of the machines, poor work practices.
Let’s now take an example of an accident and try to find
out the root causes:
You’re the manager of a distribution depot. It’s Friday
afternoon, close to the end of the working day.
One of your warehouse operatives has had enough for
the day and decides to pack up early. Meanwhile, in the
warehouse one of your forklift truck drivers, who’s equally
keen to finish his work, is driving his truck loaded with
boxes of paint. The forklift truck turns a corner and heads
at speed along the aisle towards the loading bay.
At that very moment, the warehouse operative comes out
 Rushing to get the job done
 Speed limiter removed
 Lack of maintenance or inspection
 Taking a short cut
 Leaving work early
The root causes are:
 Lack of supervision
 Work pressures
 Poor customs and practices
Step 3: Identifying Risk Control Measures
Control measures now need to be identified to remedy
the situation. These measures should take care of both
the immediate and root causes. These control measures
should be well thought of for
 No control measures in place or if so not used
 Prevent any wrong measures been implemented and
thereby loss of time, cost and effort
 Combinations of the above.
Each possible risk control measure should be evaluated for:
 Their ability to prevent recurrences
 Whether they are practical
 Whether they will be used
 Whether they will remain effective
It will be important to consider whether similar risks exist
elsewhere in the premises or on another site.

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Information from the event, etc. should be circulated
to other areas. Organisations are particularly open to
criticism if a series of similar accidents occur.
Example:
 Immediate actions could be: cleaning up an oil spill, or
replacing a guard.
 Long term measures could be like: Creating a
housekeeping policy and daily cleaning regime, or
preventive maintenance of the machines at regular
intervals.
Step 4: The Action Plan and its
Implementation
Remedial actions should be both corrective and preventive
and they need to be recorded in a systematic way so as
to make the plan actionable. The best way to do this is to
create an action plan. Action plan in simple words can be
described as “who will do what and by when”.
This action needs to be reviewed periodically so as to close
out the action points within the stipulated period. The
action needs to be prioritized depending upon the severity
of the incident. Those actions, if not taken can lead to legal
action, would obviously call for a higher priority.
Following are the contents of a typical incident
investigation form:
 Date and time of the incident.
 Location of the incident.
 Details of the injured person/ persons involved.
 Details of injury sustained.
 Description of the activity carried out the time.
 Drawings or photographs used to convey information
on the scene.
 Immediate and underlying/ root causes of the
incident.
 Assessments of any breaches of legislation.
 Details of witnesses and witness statements.
 Recommended corrective action, with suggested
costs, responsibilities and time scales.
 Estimation of the cost implications for the organization.
How occupational accidents and diseases are
recorded and notified by the organisation
(as per ILO Code of Practice – chapters 4–7)
When an incident happens, it needs to be recorded and
reported. An incident would require to be reported both
 Internally within the organization and
 Externally to agencies.
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 Internal Incident Reporting:
An organization through its incident reporting policy
should put systems in place for incidents to be recorded
and reported internally. It should specify the different
types of incidents that need to recorded, the means
of reporting and the responsibilities of reporting and
recording the incident.
A typical internal incident report would contain the following:
 Name and address of the casualty
 Date and time of the incident
 Location of the accident
 Details of the injury
 Details of the treatment given
 Description of the event causing injury
 Details of any equipment or substances involved
 Witnesses’ names and contact details
 Details of the person completing the record
 Signatures
An organization having created a means of reporting the
incidents should then go about encouraging the workers
for reporting the incidents. But, unfortunately there are a
large number of barriers that may prevent a worker from
reporting incidents.
Some of the barriers of incident reporting could include:
 No reporting policy in place.
 A work culture of not reporting.
 Workers not aware that reporting of incidents is part
of their roles and responsibilities.
 There is blame culture in the organization, workers
are afraid of disciplinary measures or of reprimand.
 Filling of the forms are too hard or takes too long.
 There is peer pressure that prevents reporting.
 Once reported there is poor management response.
 Some may not report so as to prevent the
departmental statistics from been affected which
may then further impact the earnings in the form of
incentives.
Internally an incident may have to be notified to a range
of personnel, the more dangerous the incident the
more higher up it will be have to be reported. Generally
following are the personnel who would be notified about
the incident:
 The top management.
 The HR and personnel department.
 The health and safety specialist.
 Workers representative.
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 Health and Safety Monitoring and Measuring
Externally:
 To the family of the casualty.
 Insurance companies.
 Public relations advisors.
Reporting of incidents to external agencies
Depending upon the type of incident, certain incidents
needs to be notified to the external agencies particularly
the enforcement agencies. Following are the types of
incidents that need to be reported to the enforcement
agency:
 Accidents that have resulted in major injuries or “Loss
time injuries’’.
 Dangerous occurrences as notified in the law.
 Occupational diseases.
These incidents need to be reported within a set time
frame in the format prescribed by the enforcement
agency.
The ILO has published several international standards
on recommended reporting procedures. The principal
reference is the 2002 Protocol to the Occupational
Safety and Health Convention 1981 (P155); this greatly
expands the general reporting standards of article 4 of the
occupational Safety and Health Convention 1981 (C155). It
is supported by recommendation 194, which lists types of
diseases that should be reported to national governments.
The Indian connection: The Occupational Safety,
Health and Working Conditions Code - 2020
Chapter III, Clause 10: Notice of certain accident
1) Where at any place in an establishment, an accident
occurs which causes death, or which causes any
bodily injury by reason of which the person injured is
prevented from working for a period of forty-eight
hours or more immediately following the accident or
which is of such nature as may be prescribed by the
appropriate Government, then, —
a) employer or owner or agent or manager
referred to in section 67of such establishment
if it is mine; or
b) employer or manager in relation to such
establishment if it is factory or relates to dock
work; or
c) the employer of a plantation or an
establishment relating to building or other
construction or any other establishment,
shall send notice thereof to such authorities, in
such manner and within such time, as may be
prescribed by the appropriate Government
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Chapter III, Clause 11: Notice of certain
Dangerous occurrences
Where in an establishment there is any dangerous
occurrence of such nature, (whether causing any bodily
injury or disability, or not) the employer shall send notice
thereof to such authorities, and in such form and within such
time, as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government.
Chapter III, Clause 12: Notice of Certain
diseases
(1) Where any worker in an establishment contracts any
disease specified in the Third Schedule, the employer
of the establishment shall send notice thereof to such
authorities, and in such form and within such time, as
may be prescribed by the appropriate Government.
4.3 Health and Safety Auditing 04
Definition of the term ‘Audit’ (as per
Clause 3.32, ISO 45001:2018)
ISO 45001 defines audit as “a systematic, independent
and documented process for obtaining audit evidence
and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent
to which the audit criteria are fulfilled.”
It is normally a lengthy process carried out by a trained
auditor, often someone from outside the organisation,
looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the
organisation by using questionnaire.
Why Health and Safety Management
Systems should be audited
An audit, if carried out systematically, would critically
evaluate the organizations existing Health and Safety
Management System (HSMS) and suggest for changes
which would bring about better results. It is a structured
way of assessing the health and safety performance of an
organisation by multipronged approach as follows:
― Documentation check
― Interview with staff
― Direct Observation
Post the audit, the auditor would present the findings of the
audit by means of a report and also give a gist of it during
the closing meeting. The findings of the audit could be
a) Negative: failings of managements system.

This would normally be present in the report
in the form of non-conformities (NC), which
could comprise of more serious issues like
non- compliance to legal requirements or not
following the requirements of certain clauses of
the standards.
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b) Positive: Also, there could be ‘Observations’ Some common causes of product design liability are:
or ‘Opportunities for Improvements’. These concealed or non-obvious hazards, lack of appropriate
are not so serious issues and infact represent safety devices, inadequate structural design, failure to
‘conformity’ but can be complied with for a more consider foreseeable misuses, inadequate warnings/
robust management system. Observations also
instructions and failure to comply with relevant safety
highlight the positive aspects of the management
standards. Strategies for minimizing these defects
system, which needs to be celebrated and
shared widely across the organization for parallel include: incorporating guarding and interlocks, structural
deployment. Such observations provide for analysis and testing and comparison with safety standards
‘organizational learning’ and also gives assurance and applicable regulatory guidelines. An effective product
to the stakeholders that things are in control and safety audit can identify many potential hazards, increasing
that the organization is proactively managing customer satisfaction and reducing the likelihood of
health and safety. injuries and safety recalls.
Whether the findings are negative or positive, the audit as
2. Process audit
a process helps the organization to continually improve.
This type of audit verifies that processes are working
Difference between Audits and within established limits. It evaluates an operation or
Inspections: method against predetermined instructions or standards
to measure conformance to these standards and the
effectiveness of the instructions. A process audit may:
Audit Inspection
 Check conformance to defined requirements such as
 Examines documents  Checks the workplace time, accuracy, temperature, pressure, composition,
 Examines procedures  Checks records responsiveness, amperage, and component mixture.
 Interviews workers  Usually quick  Examine the resources (equipment, materials, people)
 Verifies standards  Lower cost applied to transform the inputs into outputs, the
 Checks the workplace  May only require basic environment, the methods (procedures, instructions)
 Can be a long process competence followed, and the measures collected to determine
 Usually expensive  May be Part of an audit process performance.

 Requires a high level of  Done by a team  Check the adequacy and effectiveness of the process
competence (Manager, Safety Adv. controls established by procedures, work instructions,
Worker Rep) flowcharts, and training and process specifications.
 Done by Trained Auditor
3. System audit
Types of audit: Product/Services, An audit conducted on a management system. It can be
Process, System described as a documented activity performed to verify,
1. Product/ Service Safety Audit: by examination and evaluation of objective evidence,
that applicable elements of the system are appropriate
This type of audit is an examination of a particular product
and effective and have been developed, documented,
or service, such as hardware, processed material or
and implemented in accordance and in conjunction with
software, to evaluate whether it conforms to requirements
specified requirements.
(i.e., specifications, performance standards, and customer
requirements). A safety management system audit evaluates an
existing safety management program to determine its
The goal of a product safety audit is to identify design
conformance to company policies, contract commitments,
defects, which comprise a high percentage of product
and regulatory requirements.
liability claims. Compliance with government or industry
voluntary standards constitutes design minimums and may Similarly, an environmental system audit examines an
not be sufficient to ensure a “reasonably safe” product. environmental management system, a food safety system
Furthermore, in addition to ascertaining the potential audit examines a food safety management system, and a
hazards of a product when used as intended, auditing quality system audits examine the quality management system.
should attempt to identify foreseeable misuses of a
product as well. In addition, auditing applies not only to
the product itself, but also to accompanying instructions
and warnings, though these should only be used when a
hazard cannot be eliminated or guarded against.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Pre- audit Preparations:

External and Internal Audits

Advantages Disadvantages

External  Independent of any  Expensive.

audits internal influence.  Time-
 Fresh pair of eyes. consuming.
 Already has audit  May not
experience. understand
 May have wider the business
experience of and so make This happens before an audit starts, and the following
different types of impractical needs to be defined upfront.
workplace suggestions.
 The scope of audit- which will tell us what needs to be
 Recommendations  May intimidate audited
workers and so
often carry more  The area of the audit- the departments in which this 04
weight. get incomplete
audit needs to be conducted.
evidence.
 May be more up to  The extent of the audit- whether a comprehensive
date with the law audit, companywide or selective audit, covering a few
and best practice. departments.
 May be more able  Who will be required - auditors will require a wide
to be critical, e.g. of variety of personnel with whom they would require to
management. conduct interviews, also the auditors would require
Internal  Less expensive.  Auditors may
escorts who will accompany them in their visits to the
audits  Auditors already not notice
workplace.
familiar with the certain issues.
 Information gathering - Normally an auditor would
workplace and  Auditors may
ask for a wide variety of documents which they would
what is practicable not have good
study upfront so they can prepare for the audit.
for the industry. knowledge
of industry or Competency of the Auditor:
 Can see changes
since last audit. legal standards. An audit can be done by a
 Improves  Auditors may single person or a group
ownership of issues not possess of people, nevertheless
found. auditing skills the auditors need to be
so may need competent to conduct
 Builds competence
training. the audit. A competent
internally.
 Auditors auditor would be
 Workforce may be someone who has the
are not
more at ease. relevant certification, has
independent so
 Familiarity with experience of conducting
may be subject
workforce and similar audits and has good knowledge of the companies’
to internal
individuals. processes. The above competence is required for both
influence.
internal as well as external auditors.
The Audit Stages:
During the Audit:
The process of audits involves several stages. Though
An audit would begin on the designated day at the
there are different types of audits but most would follow
designated time with an opening meeting. At this meeting
the following typical process:
both the auditors and the auditees will be present and
after the customary introductions, the auditors would
announce the scope and extent of the audit and the
schedule for the audit which is agreed mutually.

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Depending upon the schedule the auditor would then visit
each department and conduct the audit. The auditor would
gather factual information by looking at the following
evidences:
 Paperwork or
documentation – the records
would indicate how well
the HSMS is working in the
organization. It would also
indicate to potential gaps.
 Typically, an auditor may look
at the following documents
to gain evidence of conformity.
– Health and safety policy.
– Risk assessments and safe systems of work.
– Training records.
– Minutes of safety committee meetings.
– Maintenance records and details of failures.
– Active monitoring records.
– Reactive monitoring records.
– Emergency arrangements and mock drill records.
– Inspection reports by insurance agencies.
– Outputs of regulator visits.
– Records of any worker complaints.
 Interviews: An auditor would interview the workers
and managers of each department audited to
understand how well the policies of the organization are
understood at each level and whether they know their
roles and responsibilities towards health and safety.
 Observation: An auditor would take a round of the
department audited and observe the behaviour of the
workers and also to verify the correct implementation
of the SSOWs.
Selection of Staff
If audits are to be carried out internally, organisations
should be mindful of the fact that, very often, the results
of the audit may appear to be critical of the organisations
and/or individual performance. This can lead to feelings of
resentment or even violence towards the auditor. When
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selecting the people to carry out the audit employers
should be sure that the auditor is sufficiently strong of
mind to deal with these situations. It is important when
carrying out internal audits that the auditor is impartial; this
will usually mean that the auditor does not audit a function
of the organisation that they have responsibility for.
Time and Resources
Audits are an in-depth analysis of compliance with
standards and must not be treated lightly. The planning
of the audit alone can be very time consuming. Evidence
gathering and verification can also take a long time,
depending on the scope of the audit. Employers should
not apply pressure on the auditor to get the job done in
less time than is appropriate and must be prepared to
allocate sufficient time to the task.
Similarly, the auditor might need other resources than time,
such as access to documentation, measuring equipment,
electronic storage facilities, and research facilities (internet,
library, etc.) in order to do a thorough job.
End of the Audit:
The audit would come to an end with a closing meeting
and the participants would generally be the same as that
of the opening meeting.
The auditors will give a verbal feedback as to what their
main observations were and give a list of the improvements
required. The auditors would then follow up their verbal
report with a written audit report which will in detail
speak about the recommendations for improvements and
the timescales with priorities. An audit report may list a
number of findings as follows.
 Major non-conformance: These are significant issues
which needs immediate attention. It would generally
point out to legal issues or major failures in the HSMS
in avoiding accidents. In ISO terms, these would
mean denial of certification or even withdrawal of an
already awarded certificate.
 Minor non- conformance: These are issues which are
less serious and would generally do not point to any
major weaknesses in the HSMS. These would require
corrective action to be taken in a set period of time.
They would not cause a failure in the system.
 Observations: Auditors may put forward their
opinions on certain issues pertaining to the HSMS.
These may or may not be implemented by the
organization.
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 Health and Safety Monitoring and Measuring
4.4 Review of Health and
Safety Performance
Why Health and Safety Performance
should be Reviewed
Following are the main purposes of Health and Safety
Performance review:
 Determine cause to prevent recurrence
 Identify weaknesses in management systems
 Identify weaknesses in risk assessment
 Demonstrate management commitment
 Comply with country’s legal requirements
 Collect data to establish losses
 Provide information for Civil/Criminal actions
 Provide information to insurance company
 To meet the requirements of shareholders and
stakeholders
By ensuring that a cycle of continuous review takes place
at all levels at desired frequencies, the following purposes
are achieved:
 The management keeps on continuously measuring
its performance.
 It constantly updates their performance by comparing
the set targets vs the achieved.
 It helps the management know whether enough is
been done to achieve the targets or more needs to be
done.
 It helps the management meet the commitments
set towards both their internal and external stake
holders.
 It demonstrates commitment of the management
towards continual improvement and thus boosts
morale of the workmen and aid in the creation of
positive health and safety culture.
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What the review should consider:
A wide variety of issues may be considered during the
review:
 Pending actions from previous reviews:
The previous reviews would have a range of
recommendations which would have been converted
into action plans. Whether the targets set in the
action plan is achieved or not can also be reviewed.
 Legal compliance: Any legal compliance still pending
to be achieved should be reviewed and regularly
followed up for closure.
 Findings of active monitoring: The findings of safety
inspections/ surveys/ tours and sampling will feed into
the review which help the organization understand its
compliance with the set standards. 04
 Reactive monitoring data such as:
– Accident and incident data: This is a major
performance indicator for the organization
and would always form part of set targets.
The number of incidents within the period of
discussion would be taken up and ascertained
whether it is within the set limits and whether
the trends are encouraging or otherwise.
– Absence and sickness data: This would help in
understanding whether the sickness is because
of occupational related diseases or otherwise.
Absence caused by workplace related stress
could also be reviewed.
 Quality assurance reports: In this the company’s
rejection and rework rates could be discussed
and even the customer complaints. This helps the
company perform the role in the supply chain.
 Audit reports: Both internal and external audit
reports will be discussed and major, minor non
conformities whether closed or yet to be closed
will be reviewed. Any worthwhile suggestions by
the auditors can also be taken up and decided on
implementation.
 Monitoring data/ records/ reports: Various
survey reports could be presented. For e.g. if dust
is considered to be problem for the organization,
then the dust survey results could be presented and
discussed.
 External communications and complaints: Issues
raised by the enforcement agencies or people living in
the vicinity could be discussed.
 Consultation: Issues discussed in the safety
committee meeting can be summarized.
 Objectives met: A wide range of objectives set at
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the planning stage can be discussed. Objectives could

be checked for achievement or the gaps could be
discussed and further course of action decided to
achieve the same within the set period.
 Legal and best practice developments: New
national and international laws may have been passed
and could require organizations to implement them
within the set time frame. These could be reviewed
and plans to implement them could be frozen during
the review.

Reporting on Health and Safety

Performance:
Review results on health and safety performance should
be communicated to the senior management level. This is
especially useful to enable all of senior management to

 Understand the existing workplace scenario and

necessary initiatives to be taken
 Determine whether the health and safety
management system elements are in place and
operating effectively across the organisation
In addition, results of the review should also be
communicated widely in the organization and especially
for those having responsibility to respond.

Feeding review outputs into action

and development plans as part of
continuous improvement:
The results of the discussion during the review meeting
are recorded in the minutes of minutes. These minutes
should feed into creating action plans which will help the
organization to achieve the decisions made.

The minutes as well as the action plan, needs to be

cascaded down the line to the line managers level and may
even be discussed in the safety committee meeting, so that
everyone is aware of the management’s commitments.
The minutes will help different levels as follows:

 Top management to set new targets and aid in

continual improvement.
 Middle management to review their own
performance and set enhanced targets at their levels.
 Line management to review their performance
and further cascade down the targets to the
workers level.

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Summary
 Positive health and safety culture of the organization can be achieved by proper monitoring of the health and safety
management system
 In general, health and safety performance of the organisation is monitored by two methods. They are
– Active (Proactive monitoring)
– Reactive monitoring
 Active (Proactive) monitoring – Evaluating health and safety standards before the occurrence of unwanted event. It
includes
– Safety inspections
– Safety tour
– Safety sampling
 Active monitoring gathers information in the following ways
– Documentation – Examine records, reports and documents
– Interview – Communicate with people to get views and opinions
04
– Observation – Watching people’s behaviour
 The following are some of the examples to derive standard of performance in an organisation
– Check health and safety training imparted to the workers as per the training calendar
– Monitor housekeeping activities in different zones again a set checklist
– Ensure safety inspections are happening as per the schedule
– Make sure workers are undergoing medical surveillance regularly
 Methods of active monitoring

– Safety Inspection
 It is a regular and scheduled activity that is carried out in comparison with accepted performance standards
 It involves straightforward observation of a workplace, activities, and equipment to identify hazards
 It is usually carried out by a manager, employee representative and Safety Advisor
 Types of safety inspections
Routine inspection Determines if general standards of health and safety are acceptable or if corrective
action is necessary
Statutory inspection Performed by a competent person to fulfill a legal requirement
Periodic Inspection This is to ensure that the plant and machinery are maintained properly
Pre-use-checks To ensure the equipment or system is in good condition and safe to operate before
operation

 Systematic inspections focus on four Ps for active monitoring of health and safety performance.
Types of P’s Areas to be inspected
Plant Work equipment, machinery and vehicles
Premises Workplace and its environment
People People’s working method and behaviour
Procedures Safe system of work, permit to work
 Allocating specific responsibility is essential for each type of inspection. This should be based on the relevancy and
competency of the individuals E.g: Pre-use inspection is done by the operators themselves, while monitoring the
behaviour of the workers is done by supervisors
 The person carrying out an inspection should have the necessary
– Relevant training, knowledge and experience
– Certification to a specific standard

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– Understanding of the workplace

– Health & Safety principles
– Willingness to ask questions
 Frequency of inspection is mainly determined by the nature of the work and level of risk. For example
– Frequent inspection is needed in case of work involving higher risks like scaffolding, forklift operation, and rigging
and dogging
– Inspection can be carried out once in a month or year for work involving lower risk like office-based environments
 The following factors should be taken into account while determining the frequency of inspection
– Level of risks in the activity.
– Manufacturers’ recommendations.
– Companies’ own internal policy.
– In some cases the countries laws may determine the frequency
– Inspection and audit findings may suggest a higher frequency.
– Previous accident history and results of investigations.
– Complaints from workers.
– Risk assessments may suggest inspections
 Checklist is a valuable tool to check the whether the inspection is covered in all aspects. It becomes a record for future
reference when it is filled.
 Checklist has some limitations like ignoring of other issues that are not included in it
 Appropriate action plan must be implemented for the issues identified during the inspection. It has to clearly define the
following
– Corrective action required
– Information of persons who executes the action plans
– Priorities/timescales
 Methods of active monitoring (Contd.)
– Safety Sampling
 It is a technique which uses list of standards or regulations to monitor whole workplace compliance by exam-
ining at a representative sample E.g: Effectiveness of 100 fire extinguishers can be analysed by examining and
testing the 2 fire extinguishers.
– Safety Tours
 It is a type of inspection which involves walking around the workplace to examine work environment, safety
practices and worker’s behaviour.
 It is usually carried by a group which includes worker representative, safety specialists, managers, and compe-
tent persons.
 Its main purpose is to reveal management’s commitment to health and safety.
 Reactive monitoring – This is done to learn from past incidences and prevent it from happening in the future.
(Reacting after things have gone wrong). It usually refers the following things to measure the health and safety
performance
– Accident data
– Ill health data
– Absenteeism data
– Claims records
– Number of complaints reported
– Prosecutions
– Enforcement notices

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 Analysing the database of reported accidents and incidents helps to identify trends in WSH and identify hotspot areas
(particularly those with high accident records) for enhancing the overall safety of the organisation
 Accident incidence rate (AIR) is used to compare organisation’s safety performance against a pre-defined standard.
Following is the formula
AIR = (Number of accidents in the given period / the average number of people in the given period) x 1000.
 Generally accepted near misses greatly outnumber accidents and can therefore produce more data from which a
greater understanding of the deficiencies in management systems can be identified and rectified
 Total number of enforcement actions and civil claims are also constitutes for measuring the safety performance of the
organisation.
 The investigation and analysis of work-related accidents and incidents forms an essential part of managing health and
safety
 When an incident happens, it is important on the part of the organization to record it correctly and investigate it to
avoid a recurrence
 Lessons need to be learnt from beneficial and adverse events because of the following reasons
– The Lessons learned from both beneficial and adverse events is the learning gained from the process that is
04
applied.
– Each failure or success needs to be analysed, so that what has been done correctly and what has been not is known
to the organization.
– Beneficial events will give the confidence to the management to replicate the processes that lead to such benefits
all throughout the organization.
– Similarly, adverse events are something which needs to be investigated and the root causes needs to be evaluated.
The learning’s from such events and the ways to prevent it should be communicated across the organization so
that it does not repeat again.

 Leading and lagging indicators

– Leading indicator is proactive in nature. They include safety initiatives or reported activities, with the goal of
preventing unfavourable events before they happen.
– Lagging indicators are measurements that include data from the past. They include incidents and accidents
statistics.

 Role and function of investigation

– It is a reactive monitoring technique and hence presents the organization with valuable data for analysis (trends).
– A proper investigation helps us understand why the incident happened and what could be done to prevent it in the
future.
– It plays a major role to process a claim from the insurance agency
– Incident investigation helps in calculating the costs of accidents

 Levels of Investigations (With reference to HSG245)

– Minimal
– Low
– Medium
– High

 The following are the basic steps that can be followed for carrying out an effective accident investigation:
– Gathering the information - Information can be gathered by the following three things
 Observation
 Interviews
 Documentation
– Analyzing the information. – Gathered information needs to be analyzed to find out the causes of the incident.

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The causes of the incident are commonly divided into

 Immediate causes – Acts or condition that leads to a particular result or event
 Underlying causes – Acts or condition that leads to the development of immediate causes
 Root causes – Initiates a condition or acts that leads to dangerous outcomes
– Identifying risk control measures
 Control measures need to be identified to remedy the situation. These measures should take care of both the
immediate and root causes
– Action plan and its implementation
 Remedial actions should be both corrective and preventive and they need to be recorded in a systematic way
so as to make the plan actionable
 When an incident happens it needs to be recorded and reported. An incident would require to be reported both
− Internally within the organization and
− Externally to agencies.
 Internal incident reporting - An organization through its incident reporting policy should put systems in place for
incidents to be recorded and reported internally. A typical internal incident report would contain the following:
− Name and address of the casualty
− Date and time of the incident
− Location of the accident
− Details of the injury
− Details of the treatment given
 Reporting of incidents to external agencies - Depending upon the type of incident, certain incidents needs to be
notified to the external agencies like enforcement agencies. Some examples of incidents that need to be reported
− Accidents that have resulted in major injuries or “Loss time injuries’’.
− Dangerous occurrences as notified in the law.
− Occupational diseases.
 Some of the barriers of incident reporting includes
− No reporting policy in place.
− A work culture of not reporting.
− Workers not aware that reporting of incidents is part of their roles and responsibilities.
− Filling of the forms are too hard or takes too long.
− There is peer pressure that prevents reporting.
 The following are the personnel and agencies who would be notified about the incident:
Internal Incident Reporting External Incident Reporting
Top Management Enforcement agencies
HR and personnel department Insurance companies
Health and safety specialist Public relations advisors
Workers representative To the family of the casualty

 Each incident report as well as a set of incident reports will present to the management of an organization with
invaluable data which will help them in its analysis and help them in managing the prevention of incidents even better
 Finally all these reporting, recording and analysis of the incidents should culminate into lesson learnt, which can then
translate into awareness amongst the workers and overall health and safety improvement.
 ISO 45001 defines audit as “a systematic, independent and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating
it objectively to determine the extent to which the audit criteria are fulfilled.”
 The scope and purpose of the audit is to verify that
− Organization has an appropriate health and safety management system

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− Whether the implementation is done correctly with appropriate risk controls in place.
− Results obtained through implementation of the system matches with the goals set by the organization
 Health and Safety Management Systems should be audited because of the following reasons
Negative: Identifies the failings of management system. This would be non-conformities (NC), non- compliance to
legal requirements and not following the requirements of certain clauses of the standards.

Positive: Highlights the positive aspects of the management system and provides assurance to the stakeholders
that things are in control and that the organization is proactively managing health and safety.

 Difference between audit and inspection

− Audits are usually performed to check the effectiveness of health and safety management system like safety
policies, arrangements, procedures, and safe systems of work
− Inspections are carried to determine the hazards and risks associated with the particular type of work
 Types of Audit
– Product/ Service Safety Audit:
This type of audit is an examination of a particular product or service, such as hardware, processed material or
software, to evaluate whether it conforms to requirements (i.e., specifications, performance standards, and
04
customer requirements).

– Process audit
This type of audit verifies that processes are working within established limits. It evaluates an operation or method
against predetermined instructions or standards to measure conformance to these standards and the effectiveness
of the instructions.

– System audit
An audit conducted on a management system. It can be described as a documented activity performed to verify,
by examination and evaluation of objective evidence, that applicable elements of the system are appropriate
and effective and have been developed, documented, and implemented in accordance and in conjunction with
specified requirements

 Before commencement of the audit process, the following things should be ensured.
The scope of audit  It should specify what needs to be audited. It may be company policy, health and safety
policy and so on
The area of the audit  Information about the departments or sites needs to be audited
The extent of the  Whether a comprehensive audit, companywide or selective audit, covering a few
audit departments
Who will be required  Auditors will require a wide variety of personnel with whom they would require to conduct
interviews
Information  Normally an auditor would ask for a wide variety of documents which they would study
gathering upfront so they can prepare for the audit

 Competency of the Auditor

− Auditors need to be competent to conduct the audit. He/she must be familiar with audit techniques, familiar
with work practices, have the ability to interpret standards and be in a position to be able to keep up to date
with new information and standard
− When selecting the people to carry out the audit, employers should be sure that the auditor is sufficiently
strong of mind to deal with any kind of situations
 During the audit, the auditor would gather factual information by looking at the following evidences

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Paperwork or documentation  Records would indicate how well the HSMS is working in the organization.
Typical record includes
– Health and safety policy
– Risk assessments and safe systems of work
– Training records
– Minutes of safety committee meetings
– Maintenance records and details of failures
– Active monitoring records
– Reactive monitoring records
Interviews  Interact with workers and managers to ensure how the policies of the
organization are understood and implemented
Observation  Observe behavior of workers and system of work to identify and analyse
problematic safety and other issues
 An audit report may list a number of findings as follows.
Major non-conformance  These are significant issues which needs immediate attention
Minor non- conformance  These are issues which are less serious
Observations  Auditors may put forward their opinions on certain issues pertaining to the
HSMS

 It is the responsibility of the organisation to implement all the recommendations and corrective actions recommended
in the health and safety audits
 Depending upon the audit report, the management team needs to come out with an action plan by assigning
responsibilities and approving resources to achieve them in the desired time.
 Monitor and analyse of activities related to organization’s operations like business structure, employee behavior is
called internal audit. It is normally carried out by competent person of the organization.
 Advantages and disadvantages of internal audits
Advantages Disadvantages
 Less expensive. Auditors are not independent so may be subject to internal influence
 Auditors already familiar with the Auditors may not notice certain issues
workplace and its processes and
operations

 Organization’s performance standards and health and safety policy is audited by third party is called external audit
 Advantages and disadvantages of external audits
Advantages Disadvantages
 No internal influence  Expensive
 Have wider experience auditing different  Time-consuming
types of workplace

 The purpose of reviewing health and safety performance to:

– Determine cause to prevent recurrence
– Identify weaknesses in management systems
– Identify weaknesses in risk assessment
– Demonstrate management commitment
– Comply with country’s legal requirements
– Collect data to establish losses
– Provide information for Civil/Criminal actions

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– Provide information to insurance company

 A wide variety of issues may be considered during the review
– Actions from previous reviews
– Legal compliance
– Findings of active monitoring
– Reactive monitoring data such as Accident data. Absence and sickness data etc
– Quality assurance reports
– Audit reports
– Monitoring data/ records/ reports
– External communications and complaints
– Consultation
– Objectives met
– Legal and best practice developments
 Review results of the health and safety performance should be informed to the senior management for necessary
04
actions, processes and controls to be put into place
 The results of the discussion during the review meeting are recorded in the minutes of minutes. These minutes will
help different levels as follows:
– Top management to set new targets and aid in continual improvement.
– Middle management to review their own performance and set enhanced targets at their levels.
– Line management to review their performance and further cascade down the targets to the workers level.

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