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Health and Safety Audits

Conducting regular health and safety audits is the way enlightened companies are maintaining safe work environments and staying out of court.  And what is more the overwhelming majority of these audits are being conducted by independent experts who can provide the sort of service only available from a third party.

One of our customers said recently her biggest fear was finding out her workplace no longer complied with State OHS legislation. Her solution was to have regular health and safety audits conducted twice a year. “It is now a budget item (the cost of the audits) and I can sleep at night”, she said.

An audit or risk assessment sets the acceptable levels for practices and procedures in the workplace. These regular checks ensure acceptable levels of risk are being met and they provide an opportunity to identify new or emerging risks in the workplace.

Independent safety  audits are an invaluable way of identifying possible workplace hazards before they cause a problem. Often the client is accessing more than just the labour of a consulting professional, they are tapping into the most up-to-date information that only an expert working with the legislation across numerous industries can provide. This advice and depth of knowledge is something  an employer cannot hope to achieve with an inhouse resource.

The recent demand for health and safety auditors has created a strong employment pool that is attracting professionals from academic and legal backgrounds. This growing number of qualified auditors is finding plenty of work as companies race to outsource an uncomfortable exposure to their business. Today’s auditors provide comprehensive written reports, work closely with management on proactive planning strategies and can report to board level on OHS compliance issues.

In fact many boards are requiring that management retain independant safety auditors as part of their compliance committee agenda.

About the Author

Safety Concepts is an online resource providing up to date insights and covering issues in the field of Workplace Safety.

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