Workplace audits might sound routine, but they’re game-changers for businesses that want to thrive, not just survive. Whether you’re looking to enhance safety, minimise environmental risks, or improve overall performance, audits are your roadmap to success.
In this blog, we’ll uncover the why, the when, the what, the who, and the how of workplace audits.
The What
A workplace audit is basically a deep dive into your company’s practices, procedures, and performance to see if everything is up to scratch. It checks how well you’re sticking to internal policies, industry standards, and legal requirements.
So what’s the goal? It’s to spot risks, inefficiencies, and areas where things could be running smoother.
Whether the focus is on safety, environmental impact, or quality management, every audit serves one key purpose: making sure your business stays compliant.
Types of workplace audits
Workplace audits come in different forms, each with its own focus area. Here’s a breakdown of the three most common ones:
Health & Safety Audits
Health and safety audits are all about making sure your business is complying with workplace safety regulations and your own internal procedures. These audits take a close look at your work environment, ensuring that employees are safe, equipment is up to standard, and proper training and procedures are in place. Regular health and safety audits help prevent accidents and keep your business on the right side of the law. These audits often follow specific frameworks like ISO 45001 for Occupational Health and Safety or specific regional regulations (e.g., WHS legislation in Australia).
Environmental Audits
Environmental audits assess how your business impacts the environment. They check your compliance with environmental laws, look at sustainability practices, and evaluate efforts to reduce waste, energy use, and emissions. For businesses focused on improving their environmental footprint, these audits are a must to identify areas for improvement and ensure you’re staying green and compliant. Specific regulations like the Environmental Protection Act or ISO 14001 for environmental management are often applicable.
Quality Audits
Quality audits focus on reviewing your processes to ensure they’re meeting both customer expectations and industry standards. They help pinpoint gaps in quality control, highlight areas for improving products or services, and ensure compliance with certifications like ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems. Regular quality audits help keep your products or services consistent, boost customer satisfaction, and give your business a competitive edge.
You may want to obtain ISO certification for your business. The ISO certification audit will assess your level of compliance against both the standard and your own system requirements and highlight any areas of non-conformance. If minimal non-conformances are identified, you can be granted your accreditation shortly after this audit. However, this is not usual, as most audits identify a mixture of major and/or minor non-conformances that require work to fix them.
This is a resource-intensive and technically complicated process, and Barclayss® can help you with managing your journey to certification.
The Why
Workplace audits are more than just a formality—they’re crucial for several key reasons:
- Compliance: Workplace audits make sure your business is ticking all the boxes for regulatory and legal requirements. This helps you avoid costly fines and penalties for non-compliance.
- Risk Management: By uncovering and addressing potential hazards or inefficiencies, workplace audits help prevent accidents, injuries, and operational hiccups before they become major issues.
- Improved Processes: Workplace audits highlight how you can streamline and enhance your current procedures, leading to smoother operations and better overall performance.
- Employee Safety and Well-being: Regular workplace audits show your commitment to a safe and healthy work environment, which boosts employee morale and productivity.
- Reputation: A solid workplace audit record enhances your company’s image with stakeholders, clients, and regulators, building trust and confidence
The When
When it comes to workplace audits, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for how often you should conduct them. The WHS Act and WHS Regulations don’t set a strict timeline for how frequently PCBUs (Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking) must perform work health and safety audits. Instead, they stress that PCBUs need to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved, which means regularly managing and reviewing risks.
The legislation advocates for a proactive and risk-based approach to safety. This means you should be continuously assessing and improving your practices to keep the workplace safe.
While there’s no mandated workplace audit frequency, audits should occur as part of a regular safety management system and in response to incidents, changes in processes, or new risks. Many businesses opt for annual audits or more frequent ones for high-risk industries.
Proactive vs Reactive
It’s important to recognise that workplace audits should be proactive (done before incidents occur) rather than purely reactive (after accidents happen), as part of a risk-based approach to safety and compliance.
The Who
Who conducts workplace audits? You’ve got a few options: internal auditors, external auditors, or a combination of both. Here’s how each works:
Internal Workplace Audits:
Some businesses handle audits in-house, with their own team conducting the reviews. The primary advantage here is that these auditors know the organisation inside out, allowing them to focus on specific areas that matter most. Internal audits are great for tackling internal priorities, but there’s a catch—they can sometimes be biased. Familiarity, personal relationships, or the desire to show the company in a favourable light can all skew results.
External Workplace Audits:
On the flip side, external audits bring in fresh eyes from outside the company. These auditors offer an unbiased perspective, spotting potential issues that internal teams might overlook. While they don’t have the same intimate knowledge of the business, they make up for it with objectivity and a clear, independent view of what’s going on.
For the best of both worlds, many businesses opt for a combination of internal and external workplace audits. This approach leverages the deep knowledge of internal teams while also bringing in the objectivity and fresh perspective of external auditors. By blending both methods, you can focus on key internal priorities while also ensuring that nothing gets missed due to bias or over-familiarity.
The How
Whether you’re handling the audit internally or bringing in external experts, the goal is to make your workplace compliant. Here’s a step-by-step guide to conducting a workplace audit that applies to various types—safety, environmental, quality, and more.
Step 1: Identify the Areas to Audit
Auditing an entire workplace at once can be overwhelming and less effective. Instead, focus on high-risk or high-impact areas that need immediate attention. It’s easy to fall into the trap of auditing low-risk areas because they’re quicker, but this often leaves critical risks unaddressed.
Start by targeting one or two high-priority areas where a thorough audit will make the biggest difference.
Step 2: Decide Who Will Conduct the Audit
Who performs the audit can significantly impact its effectiveness. An internal audit might be more cost-effective, as the team knows the business inside and out. However, internal audits can sometimes lack objectivity. On the other hand, opting for an external audit, performed by third-party professionals, can bring fresh perspectives, unbiased insights, and industry best practices that internal teams may overlook.
Step 3: Conduct the Audit
The specifics of the audit will depend on the area being reviewed—whether it’s safety protocols, environmental impact, or quality control. This step involves gathering data, reviewing processes, and observing real-time operations. Focus on areas flagged in past assessments or incidents. Whether it’s checking for compliance, reviewing documentation, or inspecting physical conditions, make sure your audit thoroughly examines potential risks and inefficiencies.
Step 4: Document and Review Findings
As you carry out the audit, keep detailed records of your observations. Review relevant policies, procedures, and practices to ensure they meet both internal standards and legal requirements. Document areas where your organisation excels as well as areas needing improvement. Organise your findings in an easy-to-read format, such as a table or checklist, to ensure clarity for anyone reviewing the results.
Step 5: Report the Results
Once the audit is complete, it’s time to present your findings in a well-organised report. Highlight areas for improvement, but don’t forget to acknowledge what’s being done right. It’s best practice to categorise findings as critical, major, or minor non-conformances to prioritise actions.
The report should not only focus on compliance but also offer actionable insights to help optimise processes and reduce risks. Make the recommendations practical, so they lead to real, achievable improvements rather than overwhelming your team with too many tasks.
Step 6: Develop and Implement an Action Plan
A workplace audit is only valuable if the results lead to action. Based on the audit findings, develop a clear action plan to address any gaps or risks identified. Consider using SMART goals – that is, actions that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Ensure all employees, not just management, are aware of the improvements being implemented. Whether it’s through additional training, updated procedures, or equipment upgrades, ensure that the audit’s recommendations become part of your organisation’s day-to-day operations.
While conducting workplace audits are crucial for identifying risks and areas for improvement, follow-up audits are equally important to ensure that corrective actions are implemented and sustained over time. Without regular follow-up, identified issues may remain unresolved, and improvements may not take hold, leading to potential non-compliance or recurring inefficiencies.
By following these steps, workplace audits become a powerful tool for continuous improvement, ensuring your business remains compliant.
Need Assistance?
Facing a major audit and unsure of your compliance status? Aiming for certification to a recognised standard? Do you have an identified issue in your workplace that you don’t know how to fix? Or are you just wondering how to best protect your business and workers from compliance and safety risks? Contact Barclayss® today for support on your audit journey.
