A Study on Safety Audit System in Indian Engineering Industries

Abstract

Safety audit system is an important tool for identifying and assessing the status of existing occupational safety and health management system in an industry. It is carried out by qualified occupational safety and health professionals or safety auditors. A report of the safety audit is prepared by the audit team bringing out the strength and weaknesses of the occupational safety and health system of the industry along with recommendations for improvements. This paper deals with safety audit system in Indian Engineering Industries and various aspects of safety audit systems.

Full text

Life Science Journal 2013;10(9s) http://www.lifesciencesite.com
236
A Study on Safety Audit System in Indian Engineering Industries
Dr.P.Sivaprakash 1, Dr.R.K.Elangovan 2, L.M.Karthikeyan 3, Sebastian joseph 3
1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Karpagam Institute of Technology, Coimbatore - 641105, India
2. Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India, Chennai - 600113, India
3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Karpagam University, Coimbatore - 641021, India
drpsivaprakash@yahoo.in
Abstract: Safety audit system is an important tool for identifying and assessing the status of existing occupational
safety and health management system in an industry. It is carried out by qualified occupational safety and health
professionals or safety auditors. A report of the safety audit is prepared by the audit team bringing out the strength
and weaknesses of the occupational safety and health system of the industry along with recommendations for
improvements. This paper deals with safety audit system in Indian Engineering Industries and various aspects of
safety audit systems.
[Sivaprakash P, Elangovan R.K, Karthikeyan.L M, Sebastian joseph. A Study on Safety Audit System in Indian
Engineering Industries. Life Sci J 2013;10(9s):236-240] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 31
Keywords: Safety; Hazards; Standards; OHS
1. Introduction
The modern industries are complex due to
technological advancements and depending upon the
nature of operations, it involves hazards of varying
degree at each stage. The safety audit covers various
occupational safety and health elements like Safety
and Health Policy, Safety Organization, Operating
Procedures, Work Methods, Working Conditions,
Health Hazards, Compliance with Statutory
Requirements / Codes of Practice, Personal
Protection Standards, Management / Employee
Training, Accident Reporting and Investigation etc.
Bureau of Indian Standards has formulated a number
of standards for various items especially for use in
industry. Some important standards are on Boiler,
Pressure vessels, Oil Tanks, Electrical works, Gas
Cylinder, Material handling, Transport, lifts,
Escalators & Rope ways, Safety in Construction,
Welding, Workshop practice and Firefighting
equipment etc.
National building code (NBC) is an useful
reference for standard practices to be followed for
construction of buildings, building materials, fire
protection, structural design, constructional practices
and safety, signs, displays and building services. The
services include lighting and ventilation, electrical
installation, air conditioning and heating, acoustics,
sound insulation and noise control, installation of lifts
and hoists. National building code(NBC) includes a
separate section on fire protection of buildings.
The Safety Audits can be conducted by
external third party agencies or internally by
plant/department officials as detailed below:-
 External Audit : These are conducted by the third
parties like Central Labour Institute
(CLI)/Regional Labour Institute(RLI), National
Safety Council(NSC), consultants etc.
 Internal Audit (In-company)
 Corporate : By headquarters, Personnel from other
units of same company.
 Self : In-house; by local plant personnel.
Generally, the frequency will depend on the
nature and type of activities within each area of
operation. Generally the audit can be carried out
once in a year. Frequency of shorter duration may
be required for specific areas or activities based
on inherent OSH deficiencies.
2. Objectives
These are the main objectives of the safety
audit systems are, To identify deviations from
designed and planned operating and maintenance
procedures and standards. To identify plant
conditions or operating procedures that could lead to
an accident and significant losses in life or property.
To ensure that the plant and operating and
maintenance procedures match the design intent and
standards. To keep the operating personnel alert to
the process hazards.
To review operating procedures for
necessary revisions. To seek to identify equipment or
process changes that could have introduced new
hazards. To initiate application of new technology to
existing hazards. To review adequacy of safety
inspections. To look for major risk situations and To
recommend measures to improve overall safety
performance of the plant.
3. Methodology
Ashford [3] indicated in his book that the safe
working environment cannot be achieved only by the

Life Science Journal 2013;10(9s) http://www.lifesciencesite.com
237
authorized channels. He stated that the inadequacies
in economic, political, scientific and technological
spheres, must overcome to the safe working
environment and the difficulties with law
enforcement must be noticed. The following
methodology may be adopted for carrying out the
Safety Audit:-
 Preliminary visit of the Audit team to get
acquainted with the plant, machineries,
operations, processes, layout etc.
 Discussion with senior management personnel to
know the background of the factory, technology
adopted, organizational structure, general details
of operations / process, status of Occupational
Safety and Health, specific OSH problems faced
by the management etc.
 Collection of data covering various management
and technical elements of Occupational Safety
and Health.
 Verification of data collected through plant
visits, inspection, discussion with plant
personnel etc.
 Analysis of data collected.
 Final meeting of the Audit Team with the senior
management personnel of the industry to discuss
and brief about the audit findings and
recommendations.
 Preparation of Safety Audit Report.
 Bringing out both the strength and weaknesses of
existing OSH system in the industry with
recommendations for improvements.
3.1 Strategies for Collection of Information for
Safety Audit
Clarke [4] explained the various safety
management techniques for Building construction
sectors and Rafiq et al [6] reviewed the concepts of
organizational culture, safety culture, summary of
safety culture definitions and researches, models and
measurement of safety culture with construction
safety. The sources for collecting information and its
authenticity are very important for Safety Audit. The
following strategy may be adopted for collecting
information.
Physical observation and collection of data
by actual visit to the plant facilities. Verification of
records pertaining to testing, examination, inspection,
production, maintenance etc. The information
collected as per the above two methods will have to
be cross checked wherever necessary for there will be
instances wherein a physical verification did not
support facts gathered from the records. Likewise, the
physical conditions and the level of safety obtaining
at site might not have also been reflected
appropriately in the records. Therefore in order to be
as objective as possible, it is necessary to cross check
the facts gathered by plant visits and facts as recorded
in the records.
Wang Jianping et al [7] analysed a multi-
agent network security audit system. It can solve
problems in a complex environment of independent
agencies and Zhou Yarong et al [8] mentioned the
objectives of the safety audit in engineering
industries in their papers. Since systems and
procedures and its adaptation are not only revealed
by physical visits or records but also by the
knowledge of persons who are operating the plants, it
is essential that the discussion of the auditor with the
plant personnel becomes one of the important
strategies. While the information collected through
the three methods discussed above, would be audited
against statutory requirements, safe operational
practices, plant safety standards etc. there may be
areas/situations which needs to be commented upon
by the auditor for its adequacy of safety and the level
of safety measures. This will have to be done by
professional judgement of the auditor for which the
experience and objectivity of the auditor are
essential. Therefore, this strategy would be adopted
as a last step in the strategies. This step will be
adopted, rather restricted to, situations which are not
covered by statutory requirements, codes of practices
or plant safety standards.
3.2 Check List Method
The check list method is based on collection
of information through a detailed and comprehensive
check list which is developed for assessing the safety
level and its adequacy on various aspects. The check
list or questionnaire so prepared shall facilitate the
auditor to assess the level of safety, compliance
details, adequacy of safety measures in respect of
each and every audit elements in a comprehensive
manner. To bring out of all the relevant details
necessary for this purpose, several questions will
have to be prepared for the same subject or audit
element which will be called sub-elements. Thus,
when questions/check list connected with an audit
element and its sub-elements are developed properly,
information collected in the form of answers or
details should enable the auditor to know all that
needs to be known about the audit element in
question. The check list method is the most common
method for carrying out different types of audits.
3.3 Collection of Information from Records
Ann et al [2] has studied the development of
safety awareness in various working environments.
As mentioned earlier, assessing the extent of safety
compliance through records is one of the strategies.

Life Science Journal 2013;10(9s) http://www.lifesciencesite.com
238
Records are important source for eliciting
information relating to safety and health
requirements. Whenever we mention records, we
mean records pertaining to Safety inspections, testing
or examination of plant and equipment required to be
maintained as per statutes or maintained as per the
management procedures.
An auditor who is desirous of making an in
depth and objective assessment of safety would not
only rely or restrict his collection of information from
records relating to safety but also from other records
as well. The suggested list of records for collection of
information is as mentioned below:-
 Records pertaining to Safety Inspection Testing
and examination maintained either for meeting
statutory requirements or on the initiative of the
plant.
 Accident Register/Reports.
 First Aid Reports
 Production logs, particularly portion relating to
delays due to malfunction of equipment/device
failure or equipment/accessories including
process interruptions.
 Records relating to tool issues and consumption
pattern of raw material.
 Maintenance Records
 Manufacturer's instructions, Machine Manuals
etc.
3.4 Discussion with Plant Personnel
Lynda et al [5] studied the effectiveness of
operational health and safety management systems in
various industries. Alison et al [1] studied the various
management practices and discussed the most
effective practices for reducing employee injury
rates. The other strategy is to collect/verify of
information through plant personnel which would
supplement the information collected from the
records as well from personal observations made at
site. The information can be elicited from the plant
personnel regardless of their level; discussions can be
held with Operating Manager to know the extent of
important they give and efforts they put in to
integrate safety with their day to day work. Similarly
the discussion with Supervisors can be used for
ascertaining the manner in which they supervise the
safe behaviour of Operating Personnel, obtain
compliance with safety rules and the aspects of their
day to day work on which they integrate safety in
their work. Likewise, discussions can be held with
operating personnel to ascertain their knowledge
about safety aspects. Safety Rules, toxicity data of
hazardous substances, the precautions they should
observe while at work. The details of information so
collected would be used not only for auditing one
audit element but also for more than one element.
The knowledge of safety rules, elicited from
discussion can be useful while auditing the element
'Plant Safety Rules' and 'Procedures' and 'Safety
Training'. Thus, the information collected from the
discussion with the same person would be useful for
two audit elements.
3.5 Professional Judgement
The fourth source or the strategy for collecting
information for the audit is through professional
judgement. As objectivity which the auditor brings to
bear on his judgement, is likely to be doubted this
source is used to the minimum extent. Nevertheless,
the auditor cannot completely avoid collecting
through this source as in some situations this source
or method be the only means available. For example,
if an auditor desires to collect information under the
audit element, 'Operational Safety' about the extent to
which plant, machinery or equipment are having
guards, protection devices etc. he has to use his
professional judgement as a means of confirmatory
test by making random sampling. Prior to this
confirmatory test, the audit would have audited the
other sub-elements relating to this aspect the like the
system of maintenance of machine guards, cross
checked it with the records pertaining to
maintenance, and would have elicited further
information from the discussions with the plant
personnel. He has to finally confirm the completeness
of the efforts by ascertaining the actual position
obtaining in the plant for which resorting to the use
of professional judgement cannot be avoided. In any
plant, the number of such equipment/machinery
requiring to be checked for this purpose would be
many and in such situations actual count would be
quite consuming and 'random sampling' for this
purpose. The professional capability of the auditor
and whether the samples selected by him are
representative of the actual position are aspects
failing within the realm of professional judgement.
Hence, the auditor reserves this method of collecting
information to the minimum extent necessary. To
further illustrate this point, one can take up the
conditional aspects of plant and machinery,
particularly from the point of view of safety. If the
records and the systems indicate that the periodic
inspections are being carried out confirmatory
assessment have to be made using professional
judgement. Conditions like corrosion, erosion, rust,
wear and tear etc. and the extent to which these
conditions would have safety implications are areas
which fall within the ambit of professional
judgement. Obviously, the auditor would not
checking theses aspects on each and every item of

Life Science Journal 2013;10(9s) http://www.lifesciencesite.com
239
equipment or plant or machinery but he will make a
random assessment using professional judgement.
To surmise, it has to be pointed out that
collecting information for the purpose of Safety
Audit would have to be carefully thought out, well
planned, meticulous exercise which should be as
objective as possible. In doing this, an auditor need to
have an undertaking about the process, plant have a
preliminary discussion with the plant personnel
during which time he would explain the system of
audit to the heads of sections of department and get a
feed back about their plant systems and practice. He
would also explain to them as to how they would
have to co-operate with him and interact with him.
He could also during the preliminary discussion time
decide on the safety aspects which would be taken up
for auditing.
Aimed with the details collected during the
preliminary discussion, the auditor would then
proceed to carefully/prepare the
checklist/questionnaire for each and every element
and then take up the detailed audit.Proper
communication of the observations, analysis and
recommendations are as important as carrying out the
task itself. The findings of even a good audit, if
presented poorly may not produce the desired results.
It is therefore important that the auditors should be
able to communicate the information clearly and
convincingly.
3.6 Suggested List of Audit Elements
The suggested lists of audit elements are as below:-
Occupational safety and health policy
Occupational safety health set up
Education and training
Employees participation in OSH management
Compliance with statutory requirement
First-aid & medical programme
Records and forms
Identification and assessment of occupational
diseases
Health surveillance and health monitoring
Health and welfare measures
Identification of areas, assessment and control
(noise and vibration)
Heat stress and ventilation
Illumination
Dusts and fumes
Gases and vapours
Materials safety data sheets (MSDS)
Material handling, transportation and storage
House keeping
Waste treatment disposal
Monitoring of workplace environment and all
exposures
Local exhaust system and ventilation
Safety in process/operation
Personal protective equipment
Emergency preparedness
Maintenance programmes
General working conditions
3.7 Report Writing
The most efficient way of writing a report is to
start writing as soon as possible. In external audits, it
is highly desirable that the entire report with findings
be drafted at the plant site itself. If necessary the
audit team could stay on at the site after completion
of the field visit for a day for this purpose. If audits
are carried out for a few days, it is desirable if the
team allocates an hour at the end of each day to
discuss and prepare the draft report. It is generally
easy to write a rough draft first and then perfect it.
Reports are generally made of the broad elements
like introduction, body of the report,
recommendations and other information and the
report should be properly structured.
The following format may be used in writing the
report for the Safety Audit:-
 Executive summary
 Detailed Report
 Introduction
 Details of the factory
 Objectives
 Methodology
 Inspections
 Observations, findings and
recommendations/suggestions.
If the Safety audit is carried out In-house,
details of the factory etc. can either be reduced or
eliminated.
Executive Summary is the précis of a report
and will tell the reader in a little greater detail the
ground covered in the report, the main findings and
the recommendations. It is intended for both, very
senior people who may not have the time to read the
entire report and for others as well who would read
the report in detail. Summary should not contain
anything that has not been covered in the main report.

Life Science Journal 2013;10(9s) http://www.lifesciencesite.com
240
3.8 Safety Audit Reports – Key Points
Not only deficiencies but also positive points
should be covered (with examples).
Photographs could be taken and enclosed in the
report, in consultation with the management.
Recommendations should be prioritized.
While making recommendations, the standard on
which it is based should be highlighted/referred.
Deficiencies and Recommendations: The
observation of deficiencies should give specific
cases with locations and details. The
recommendations however do not seek to correct
these specific instances only but suggest
improvements in the system throughout the plant.
The audit report should be in simple language and
clear unambiguous terms should be used.
The report should be properly arranged, typed
neatly and presented properly.
Issue of the report should not take too long.
4. Conclusion
Sufficient efforts must be put in, in the
preparation of the Safety Audit report, to make the
whole exercise worthwhile. While noting down the
details, whether from perusal of records or field
visits, the information
noted should be clear and any doubts should be
clarified immediately as in-correct information will
give a bad impression about the audit exercise. The
report should neither be too long nor too short, but
just the right size – appropriate to the size of the
site/factory audited and covering the relevant points.
Corresponding Author:
Dr. P.Sivaprakash,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Karpagam Institute of Technology,
Coimbatore – 641 105, India
E-mail: drpsivaprakash@yahoo.in
References
1. Alison G. Vredenburgh., Organizational Safety,
Which management practices are most effective in
reducing employee injury rates?. Journal of Safety
Research. 2002; 33(2): 259-276.
2. Ann M. Williamson, Anne Marie Feyer, David
Cairns, Deborah Biancotti. The development of a
measure of safety climate: The role of safety
perceptions and attitudes. Safety Science.
1997; 25(1-3): 15-27.
3. Ashford. Criss in the Workplace: Occupational
Diseases and Injury, 1st Edition, MIT Press,
Cambridge, 1976.
4. Clarke, T. Managing Health and Safety in Building
and Construction. Butterworth Heinemann,
England, 1999.
5. Lynda S Robson, Judith A Clarke, Kimberley
Cullen, Amber Bielecky, Colette Severin, Philip L
Bigelow, Emma Irvin, Anthony Culyer, Quenby
Mahood. The effectiveness of occupational health
and safety management system interventions: A
systematic review. Safety Science. 2007; 45: 329–
353.
6. Rafiq M Choudhry, Dongping Fang, Sherif
Mohamed. The nature of safety culture: A survey
of the state-of-the-art. Safety Science. 2007; 45:
993–1012.
7. Wang Jianping, Chen Min, Wu Xianwen. A Novel
Network Attack Audit System based on Multi-
Agent Technology. Physics Procedia. 2012; 25:
2152 – 2157.
8. Zhou Yarong, Yin Xin. Research on the sustainable
development and the objective of Chinese
government performance audit. Energy Procedia.
2011; 5: 1230–1236.
7/26/1013