Safety Management Systems Auditing (Word DOC)

No other safety related activity could produce a status evaluation of any industrial or commercial enterprise better than a comprehensive audit. Performed professionally, audits provide management with answers based on facts, which in turn, generate appropriate solutions to problems. . As safety professionals, it is our responsibility to ensure that we help managers ensure that their actions and activities within their mandate of control are based on facts.

There are many Health and Safety Management System 'models' available, BS18001, the ILO, the ISRS and the 5 Star System to name a few. One thing is certain, that there is no 'one size fits all' Occupational Health and Safety Management System, [OH & S-MS]. An effective, quality driven OH & S-MS is really measuring and verifying "conformance to requirements or standards", without which there can be no effective measurement or evaluation of performance.

This paper will address the elements and protocols for one 'Model', which will show that safety is a process not a product, and that professionally done, a Health and Safety Management System audit can put any organization on a step-by-step program of progressive improvement.