Written by There’s no “right” way to come up with a workplace safety program but there is a more “effective” way to jumpstart the process.
Standardizing the audit in an accessible environment and then sharing results and clearly understandable metrics will take your existing program to the next level. An online centralized auditing system allows you to say goodbye to the days of compiling scribbled notes into an audit only to second guess whether you focused on the highest priority.
When setting up an online audit program, its best to start with the end in mind. Figure out what you want to achieve — more critical thinking, injury reduction, avoiding certain kinds of risk – and reverse engineer your plan. Depending on the objective, the Total Audit platform is a valuable tool in this measurement process. The platform should offer flexibility to modify variables such as reporting, frequency, scoring, segregation, metrics and notifications to meet your ever-changing needs.
Another key attribute is to organize your topics to match the type of lagging indicators you may already be measuring. Matching leading indicators such as audit info with lagging indicators such as injury data provides a full-circle understanding of risk.
Corrective Actions play a very important role in your workplace safety plan and it is an area where the value of a centralized audit program shines.
As auditors find safety hazards, their corrective actions are automatically cataloged and marked for follow-up action. This catalogue ensures that problem areas are addressed and are not allowed to fall through the cracks.
The system allows for longer, comprehensive audits (50-80 topics) to be complemented by a variety of smaller, focused audits (10-15 topics). Safety professionals typically use the comprehensive audit (deep-dive) while supervisors and team leads use the targeted audits to spot more day-to-day items. The complimented mix of audits by the different groups ensures light is always shining on the blind spots to mitigate a greater variety of risks.
Having the right tools is paramount to effectively monitoring workplace safety. If management and employees see positive changes based on problem areas they’ve directly identified, the health of the program improves. This healthy momentum goes a long way in achieving your number one goal: reducing workplace accidents and injuries.