Interviewed by Adeesh Sharma

Swapan Kumar, Member of the EHS Advisory Board, SDG Foundation talks about the pre-requisites for safety managers before they conduct a workplace safety audit, some of the key points to be conveyed to employees as part of an Occupational Safety Communication Program, ways to tackle non-compliance to safety norms among employees and a key moment in his career where he wished he had handled a safety incident differently.

What are the pre-requisites for safety managers before they conduct a workplace safety audit?

Step One - One week prior to the audit, inform all affected managers and supervisors. They should be directed to have all records, documents and procedures available when the audits starts.

Step Two - Review all past program area audits and corrective action recommendations.

Step Three - Review all company, local, state and federal requirements for the specific program. Become familiar with the document, inspection and training requirements.

Step Four - Determine the scope of the audit. This can be based on accident and inspection reports and input from various managers. Set a start and stop time & date for the audit.