_____25. A review of the overall safety and health management system is conducted at least annually.

Attributes

• Reviews are used to make positive changes in policy, procedures and programs.
• The review includes all facets of the facility.
• The Safety and Health Program is reviewed at least annually.
• The review examines written materials, the status of goals and objectives, records of incidents, records of training and inspections, employee and management opinion, observable behavior and physical conditions.
• The review process drives correction of identified deficiencies.
• Evidence exists which demonstrates that program components actually result in the reduction or elimination of accidents.
• Positive findings are communicated and celebrated with the work force.
• Top management is directly involved with the audit.
• Employee representatives are involved in the audit.

Discussion

• An annual audit of your organizational safety and health system should be conducted on a formal basis. The appropriate level of written documentation for the audit will vary with the size of your organization and the complexity of the audit. The annual safety and health audit should highlight the accomplishments and identify the failures of the past year. The audit should also ascertain the underlying reasons for any failures so that these issues can be addressed. Ideally, the audit will correlate action successes and failures of the past year with outcome results such as injuries and illnesses. This correlation can be used to determine if these actions should be extended, changed or dropped, and to determine if new actions and/or objectives should be initiated.
• There are numerous ways to perform an annual safety and health audit. It may be conducted internally or externally. Corporate staff commonly perform external audits for small units of the company. Internal audits may be performed by your organization‘s safety committee or by a special team assembled for that purpose. Regardless of the method, it is essential that the audit process be data driven with top management endorsement. Also, the most effective audits involve input from all levels of your organization - managers, supervisors, and workers. Top managers should be directly involved in the audit process or, at least, keenly aware of the audit results.
• Some organizations have their safety and health system in a "continuous improvement" mode. The notion of an annual audit is not in conflict with this approach. The audit provides a "big picture" assessment of the overall impact that numerous small improvements are having on organizational performance.
• Audits may be very brief in time and documentation if your organization successfully completed its planned safety and health actions, accomplished its objectives, and achieved the desired outcome results.

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