Here are the top tips to keep in mind before your next EHS audit.
Tips to Help Your Next EHS Audit
Working in Oil and Gas you know how important the health and safety of your team and the environment is to your overall success. The people who work for your are your number one asset and ensuring they stay safe, healthy, and happy keeps your operation running smoothly.
EHS audits are one way companies can stay on top of their safety. Here are some tips to make sure your EHS audits are running smoothly and your team is kept as safe as possible:
Tip: Ensure Your Company Has A Safety Strategy
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All too often safety can be reactive, rather than systematic and organized.
Someone at a job site has an accident – maybe tripping on a stray tool – so you react, assist the worker, and remove the hazard.
Or a worker sees a dangerous situation and fixes it without telling anyone that it happened.
Intuitively this reactive process makes sense, and likely takes up less time, but what it fails to do is reduce future hazards throughout the organization. When a strategic system is in place the entire company will benefit.
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Going back to the previous examples; in a more strategic systematic system, if a worker trips on a loose tool they would receive first aid if required then log the incident. That log would be sent to the appropriate supervisors, and the supervisors would send out a communication to workers throughout the organization to ensure that tools are always off the ground in work areas.
If a worker saw a dangerous situation, rather than fix and forget, they would fill out a digital report with a photo of the hazard, mark off the area, bring in the appropriate team to fix the issue. The digital report could be automatically sent to the correct supervisors throughout the organization, and appropriate steps taken to prevent it from happening again in the same place or organization as a whole.
A strategic safety system helps to keep your workers safe now, and in the future.
Tip: Promptly Fix Issues from Previous EHS Audits
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One sure way to do better on a future EHS audit is by making sure all of the issues from previous audits have been addressed.
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This may seem like an obvious statement, but far too often issues brought up on an EHS audit can be trivialized and pushed back until all of a sudden another audit is upon you and some of the issues from last audit are still outstanding.
As mentioned in the tip above, make sure you have a strategic system in place, so when you get an audit report you have a plan of action to ensure all issues are addressed as quickly as possible.
Tip: Don’t Ignore Safety Concerns from Staff, Prioritize Them!
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Every safety issue brought up by your team is important, because if someone has noticed it and brought it to your attention it means they are likely concerned and might be feeling unsafe.
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Even if you do not think their concern warrants a response, always treat it seriously. What might not look serious to you could be a huge concern to somebody else, and may result in a serious injury.
If your team feels heard and safe in their workplace, they are more likely to value their employment, work harder, stay accident free, and stay more loyal to your company, which can reduce the amount of time and energy spent hiring new people after a talented team member, who feels ignored, decides to take their skills elsewhere.
Prepare, Take Action, and Listen
With a solid safety strategy in place you will be more prepared to handle any issues that are noted on your next audit, and by listening to your employee’s concerns you are sure to improve your next EHS audit score, and make your company safer and stronger going forward.
If your team needs any online EHS training, or help managing their safety training program, the team at BIS Safety Software would be happy to help. Reach out any time!
Work hard, and stay safe!
