Steps to a Successful Safety Audit

Do you need to know what are the steps to a successful safety audit? We've got you covered. 

Safety audits sound intimidating, but they're actually easy to complete and extremely beneficial to the overall health of your workplace environment. 

In fact, you can even complete a self-safety audit. All you need is a group of knowledgeable employees to  assess the different areas of compliance.

Follow these 5 steps to have a successful safety audit. 

1. Get a diverse group of auditors

You can complete a self-audit by creating an internal auditing team comprised of employees and supervisors from different departments. 

Managers, production line workers and even members of your HR department can be included in this team.

 Getting individuals from different areas of work and specialties will lend varied expertise to the audit that can give more insight on areas of improvement.  

The more varied your group of auditors, the more comprehensive the safety audit will be. 

2. Be thorough

Once you've established who your safety auditors are, it's time to start self-assessing. 

You can use one of these self-audit checklists as a guide. 

Keep in mind that depending on the nature of your company, the amount and types of safety factors you'll have to check will vary. 

But no matter if you oversee a microchip manufacturer or a CPA firm, one of the 5 key steps to a successful safety audit is to be as comprehensive and thorough as possible. 

Among the key things you should check for include: 

3. Look for areas of improvement

When it comes to workplace safety, there are always going to be areas where we can do better. 

And that's not a bad thing. In fact, the most important piece of the 5 steps to a successful safety audit is to conduct the audit with an eye for areas of improvement. 

Not only will that help you determine where the safety hazards in your company lie, but also it will actually help you mitigate the chances of workplace injuries or lawsuits. 

4. Create a quick corrective action plan

Once you've assessed where the safety problems in your business are, you need to develop an action plan to fix them. 

Some fixes might be simple, while others may take more time. However, you really want to make the changes as soon as possible. 

Set up a plan with clear deadlines and goals built-in.

Give yourself a clear time frame establishing when and how you plan on addressing any safety issues. That will help ensure the job gets done and doesn't get forgotten as you take on other tasks or projects. 

5. Make audit results and action plan public

Lastly, but far from least, post the results of the safety audit and any action plan you've created in areas where all employees can easily see them.

The purpose of this is twofold: 

Firstly, your employees will appreciate being kept in the loop — which will increase the overall safety awareness in the work environment. 

Secondly, it acts as another layer of accountability that will help you (or the audit team) stick to the goals set aside in the corrective action plan. 

Stay on top of these 5 steps and conduct an annual safety review. If you do, you're guaranteed to have a successful safety audit every time.