Using an OHSAS 18001 Internal Audit Checklist Doc
soumya GhorpadeUse of an OHSAS 18001 Internal Audit Checklist Doc can be an excellent way to assess your company’s occupational health and safety processes, with particular attention paid to reviewing written material to ensure compliance with this international standard.
Document Review. This process encompasses reviewing documentation such as quality manuals, procedures, work instructions and records to ensure they comply with ISO 9001 standards.
1. Identifying the Issues
As part of your initial steps towards auditing, review and compare any available standards with your policy requirements to ensure a comprehensive audit is being performed and that findings can be recorded accurately to allow appropriate actions to be taken upon.
The gaps analysis questionnaire highlights those sections of a standard that require physical (or electronic) evidence in the form of documentation or records in order to easily pinpoint gaps in your system. This allows you to see where any holes may exist in its implementation.
Downloadable internal audit checklists by department and clause are now available, providing both new and established users of OHSAS 18001:2007 an efficient auditing solution. This comprehensive ohsas 18001 audit tool includes questions for 8 departments as well as all of its clauses – making this checklist tool an indispensable asset.
2. Risk Assessment
Risk evaluation is vital in prioritizing actions and setting the scope of an occupational health and safety management system. Using qualitative probability and impact scales, risk evaluation assesses each hazard or risk. By doing this, one can establish its severity while planning controls accordingly.
4.4.5 Documentation
A management system must include an effective documentation strategy and system, comprising operating criteria, records and information regarding goods, materials, equipment and services being handled. All pertinent records must be clearly documented, dated legibly retained for an acceptable length of time.
Documentation must also cover the implementation, maintenance and improvement of an OH&S Management System – this includes management review, internal auditing and monitoring – in addition to any actual or potential violations with this standard.
3. Documentation
Documentation is an integral component of ISO certification. It allows your organization to assess, track, and confirm progress made before, during, and after certification procedures are complete.
Note that documentation must reflect the complexity, hazards, and risks involved with any project. Furthermore, it must be properly maintained and controlled, making it accessible for staff, workers and external stakeholders.
Another important element to evaluate following an audit is what actions have been taken following its results. This step ensures that findings of an audit are acted on, rather than simply ignored; otherwise there can be gaps between what was actually discovered during an audit and any actions that are actually taken to correct them.
4. Management Review
Make sure that your internal audit checklist contains all of the elements required to record any identified issues accurately and in enough detail so that appropriate steps are taken to address any identified problems and improve effectiveness of OH&SMS. This will ensure the necessary actions can be taken quickly to eliminate issues and maximize effectiveness of OH&SMS.
By doing this, your organization will reduce downtime and costs associated with operations and liability insurance while making strides toward continuous improvement.
Maintaining compliance with OHSAS 18001 standard and your policies is of utmost importance, particularly with regard to your Occupational Health & Safety policy. Review it periodically so as to make sure your OHSMS meets these demands and determine how your organization can meet them.
5. Corrective Action
Corrective Action Checklist The corrective action section aims to confirm that top management are reviewing and acting upon the findings of internal audits, while ensuring documentation required by OH&S management system requirements is kept and controlled, including methods of identification, storage, security retrieval and disposal.
Once an audit is complete, a summary of both positive and negative findings shall be prepared by the lead auditor for distribution to staff members and management team members.
DATAMYTE is an OH&S audit software that allows users to easily create and conduct multilayered process audits. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes DATAMYTE user friendly for anyone, and its automated tools ensure faster audit completion times and greater efficiency. Furthermore, its tracking tools help monitor progress of each audit as well as corrective action taken against each one.