A Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Audit is important to ensure an employer is meeting their legal obligations. But it can also provide a range of benefits to the organisation.
What Is a WHS Audit?
- A Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Audit analyses aspects of an organisation that could put employees at risks. A WHS audit prevents costly gaps, non-compliance fines, and prosecutions. An audit of your WHS ensures:
- Compliance with the often-changing WHS standards and regulations,
- Workers and visitors are protected from harm,
- Safety Management Systems and procedures are continually improving, and
- Organisation’s culture is protective of the employee’s health.
Employers have a legal responsibility to implement worker health and safety in the organisation. If an employer is found to pursue profit at the expense of the staff and visitors’ safety, significant penalties may be applied.
Read more about the steps involved in completing a WHS audit.
Types of Audits
A business can undertake one or more of the following audits:
- Compliance audit
- Program audit
- Management systems audit
What is the Difference Between OHS and WHS?
The terms Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and Work Health and Safety (WHS) are essentially the same. Until 2011, OHS laws differed between the Australian states and territories. After 2011 national WHS laws were brought in so there was a standard set of regulations and WHS is now the industry’s preferred term.
How is a Risk Assessment Different From an Audit?
An audit is the systematic review of safety and health systems and controls. The review includes the WHS policies, processes, procedures, and technology.
A risk assessment assesses a particular hazard and identifies potential outcomes. The WHS Act requires businesses to carry out a health and safety audit within 12 months of starting operations.
Benefits of a WHS Audit
There are several benefits of completing a WHS audit. An organisation may benefit from one or more of the following:
Improve or Save the Reputation of Organisation
Employees and outsiders become aware of the WHS audits, and therefore, the audit proves the organisation is serious about its commitment to WHS. In proposals, including a reference to annual WHS audits can show that the organisation goes above and beyond its safety requirements.
If an audit helps the organisation to avoid an incident that becomes common knowledge in the industry or makes the news, the organisation’s reputation can be ‘saved’ from negative reputation or further damages.
Avoid a Safety Incident Occurring
Safety of your staff and employees should be a high priority. An audit may pick up a shortfall in the organisation’s WHS and allow the organisation to make amendments to reduce the risk of a near miss or incident.
Increase Employee Awareness of WHS
An audit can highlight areas of improvement to the employees and remind them of important WHS practices that they may be neglecting. Distribute a copy of the audit to the staff members to help maintain health and safety concerns top of mind.
Benefit of Using a Third Party Auditor
WHS audits can be carried out by internal staff, or the organisation can also engage a third party, such as Altius Group, to complete the audit and provide a report of the results. The benefits of opting for a third party include:
Limited Interruption to Operations
Outsourcing the audit process means internal staff won’t need to take time off their work to complete it.
Expertise
WHS Auditors often have experience across many industries and organisations. After completing dozens of audits, they can make recommendations that internal staff members wouldn’t be less likely to.
The WHS regulations change often and professional WHS auditors are more likely to be up to date with the information. Internal staff members have other tasks and responsibilities that won’t allow them to spend the same amount of time reviewing new regulations as a third-party professional would.
Objective
When a staff member completes an audit, their reporting can be impacted by closer involvement with the organisation and end up with a biased approach. One may be reluctant to call out a process or procedure that their colleague is responsible for. A third party won’t have that relationship interference and will report objectively. Management can enjoy peace of mind that the audit has been completed fully and impartially.
WHS audits are a great way to ensure your organisation is complying with current OHS/WHS legislations, and valuing the safety of its employees and operations. For more information on how our safety consultants at Altius Group can help you improve your organisation through a WHS audit, contact us online or call 1800 258 487.