How To Do A Facility Audit

Must you do a facility audit? Yes, an increasing number of regulations are requiring a site assessment, a hazard analysis, workplace inspections, and equipment inspections. For your own financial protection, for your workers' safety and health, and for the preservation of your good reputation, audit your facility. Also, as an added incentive to audit your facility, OSHA has said it will not routinely request to see employers' voluntary self-audits of safety and health conditions when the Agency makes inspections.

Here are some common sense tips on how to perform a facility audit:

• Use a team approach.
• Rotate members of audit team; new eyes see different things.
• Be thorough; cover every nook and cranny in your facility.
• Be frequent; the day after an audit, unlabeled containers can reappear.
• Be comprehensive; overlooking little things can create big problems.
• Set up a system for corrective action after the audit.