Endure: Why you NEED a SAFETY and ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT?

The last thing any company wants is to be slapped with an OSHA fine or EPA citation for a violation its owners didn’t even know existed. Yet a lot of organizations have trouble keeping up with the latest – and fast-changing – safety and environmental regulations, especially if they have multiple facilities and no designated safety and environmental department.

If you need help identifying gaps in safety training and operations, your company may want to consider performing a self-safety and environmental audit with assistance from an experienced consulting firm.

When you hire an outside consultant or company to perform your self-audit, they will work with you to:

Review records and permits
Examine equipment and safety procedures
Assess workplace hazards
Evaluate safety training and policies
Determine compliance with regulatory groups

By performing a thorough review of your records and documentation as well as safety systems and process, the auditor will be able to verify compliance with regulatory agencies such as the EPA and OSHA. This will help you avoid fines and citations associated with incomplete documents, lack of record keeping or unidentified safety hazards.

Developing training programs that meet OSHA guidelines and address all of your risks is also an ongoing challenge – just check out OSHA’s list of 10 most cited penalties in fiscal year 2012. So in addition to monitoring regulatory compliance, most companies that perform safety and environmental audits will review your safety training programs, checking for safety violations and examining how you’re addressing hazards.

Additionally, a self-audit will help you determine how effective your operational training is in protecting employees from potential risk and injury. Processes and procedures often change site to site, and day to day. So a safety audit is a good way to find out if your training successfully communicates operational processes and changes to employees. For example, you may need to add training on a new piece of equipment or refresher training for employees who are shifting jobs.

Once a safety and environmental audit is completed, your consultant will typically make recommendations of actions you should take to meet the latest safety and environmental standards. Maybe your business requires certain work permits governed by the EPA, but the audit indicated that you never filed for them. With guidance from your auditor, you can take steps to secure the permit before the EPA steps in, avoiding penalties.

April 15th gives industry operators only three more months to plan and implement Safety & Environmental Management Systems (SEMS,) an approach made mandatory by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BSEE) last November!!

Endure can assist you in completing your

SEMS AUDIT by November 15th!