Passed the audit, got the T-shirt, all turned pear shaped?

It’s OK, you’re not alone. It’s common to find that within months or even weeks of reaching the International Standard/Head Office Audit/ACC Approval/Star Rating/other chocolate fish award, the whole thing has ground to a halt.

Maybe someone has just been e-mailed that the nice Mr Schmidt with those leather gloves and clipboard from Head Office will be here next month. Maybe it’s audit renewal time and someone with a corporate governance role has just dusted off the standard and asked some pointy questions. People have ducked for cover. Since that last visit/audit, heck, there have been plenty of reasons to find for why you let it go. There was Brucey moving to another job just when Hilda put on that sinking lid policy and the spending freeze. And that new accounting system – we nearly lost the will to live for 6 months, just after going through that quality audit and the warehouse relocation, too. And it didn’t help that Head Office were constantly asking for information regarding that Due Diligence process.

Why does it happen?

Face it, the reason was none of those things, it was one or a combination of the following:

  1. It wasn’t important to the boss: If it was, you’d have got a kick up the rear long before now. “But the boss told us to do it”. Well, sorry, then the boss needed to be involved instead of being conspicuous by his/her absence. Did the boss ever lead the way? Did they resource it, support it, monitor progress, drive it? Did they “thump the table” even once? What were the consequences of letting it fail?

  2. Nobody “owned” it: Perhaps there was a Health and Safety Coordinator/Manager/Advisor but sorry, they don’t count. Sometimes, they can carry it by sheer strength of personality, but mostly, they are just honest triers who provide organisational support and oil the wheels. Ownership has to be shared between influential managers and influential employees. They get ownership by being accountable and by listening, collaborating and developing trust and respect.

  3. All paper and no substance:  It still amazes us the tissue thin basis on which some employers pass audits. First of all, the auditor was gutless and lazy, so they should be spanked, because they did nobody any favours, including themselves. Secondly, if all the paper can’t be backed up with actual activity and leadership, then someone else should also be spanked for wasting so much time and money. There are plenty of con artists creating pieces of paper to justify their existence. They can be both internal advisors, drawing a salary, and external advisors, sucking lifeblood out of gullible employers, while spinning any yarn you care to listen to.

  4. You did it for the wrong reasons: Think back. Why did you decide to get the audit?


    Bad reasons

    Good reasons

    To win tenders and contracts

    To win recognition for your values

    Head Office wanted it

    You (the boss) wanted it

    For the discount

    For the reputation

    To add to the certificates in the foyer

    To add to the excellence of your business

    To fix your high accident rate

    To improve your already good accident rate


  5. The “Champion” has gone: Sometimes it’s said that safety needs a “Champion”. Refer #1 above. That would be the boss, wouldn’t it? If the “Champion” was the previous boss, and the new one doesn’t see that safety is one of the indicators of a healthy and strong organisation, get another job, you’re wasting your time.

  6. Dang! Our last audit was Auckland. How did we know they would audit Timaru this time? Hardly the point, is it? Is safety something you do only where the auditor goes? Understandable for the first audit but you’ve had all the time in the world since then. Again, refer to #1 above.


So what can be done?

Let’s assume  the Boss actually does want a safety management system and to have it stamped with the “seal of approval” of an audit pass. What can you do to rescue the situation and do something meaningful?

  1. Find a senior person with influence who believes it’s important and who can provide leadership. Some managers have had personal experience of a serious accident or two and they can become passionate about it. Some managers just want compliance. They don’t want the hassle of having the enforcement authorities focus on them, even for a moment. Some managers actually “get” that safety is a reliable indicator of the health and vitality of their organisation. They know that by “managing safety”, the disciplines involved are also important in achieving a tight and well organised workplace. They also know intuitively that it is a way to engage positively with influential employees and that this means behavioural improvements, the acceptance of ownership and the exercise of responsibility.


  2. Spend time with that senior person. Find out what key safety achievements they see as important. If they are a bit lukewarm, find out what they really ARE interested in. It might be cutting costs and waste. Talk their language. Tell them how much accidents and absence has cost them in the last year. (You will have to use your creativity here, because, as sure as hell no one will have accounted for these losses). In fact, that’s the very point. The annual budget does not allow for accidental losses, so the cost of every accident comes right off the bottom line. In an organisation with a profit margin of 10%, a minor accident costing $5,000 represents sales revenue of $50,000. Think of your accidents and incidents in the last 12 months. Don’t forget company vehicles and plant/equipment damage. Add up only the direct costs of it and chances are, it’s more than a decent salary. Throw in indirect costs and you have a “no brainer” decision to resource the safety function. Suddenly, good housekeeping, training and following rules is synonymous with saving money. Now, the focus is not passing an audit, it’s on saving money and having a quality organisation.


  3. Develop an agreed set of objectives with that manager. Allow them to take the lead in this. Also include issues employee representatives see as important, even if they seem minor. Why not include objectives that are not, strictly speaking, pure safety objectives? It could be about absenteeism, wellness, quality indicators, as well as safety. Use accident rate objectives sparingly. In particular, try to avoid “Lost Time Injury” targets. First, a lost time injury is meaningless (they could be dead or just off for a day), secondly, it’s all reactive. Better to aim for improvements. You could be addressing your main injury risks, reducing the number of hazards above a specified risk level, providing systematic training, improvements to visitor/contractor management. Set measureable objectives, so you know when they are achieved, and make set timeframes and people accountable. Review progress at every safety meeting.


  4. Focus mostly on tangible activities that are to do with people and enabling people to work safely. Keep paperwork only for recording essential data and things that have actually been done. Use simple written procedures. Every word should count. Strip out all the stuff that does not lead anywhere and stick to a simple process. Review documents annually but get it all done quickly and move on.


  5. Insist on and expect regular (perhaps weekly) reviews with your manager. Be positive but report honestly what works and what does not. Does the manager attend safety meetings? If not, you are missing a powerful opportunity for developing collaboration and trust that benefits both managers and employees. Do two self audits a year. One can be the “official” event, the other should be an honest stock take. Far better than leaving it till too late.


  6. Make safety meetings punchy and focused. Employees sometimes make the best chairpersons. It takes months for employees to realise the meetings are not for them to be “talked at”. Spend time on this. Try not to do all the talking, do the listening. All too often, when an employee DOES pluck up the courage to table an issue, someone with authority will dismiss it. Ping! Another opportunity lost. What we want is for employees to be part of the solution. To do that, some managers need to open their minds and ears and understand that what may appear to be a minor issue may be a real bugbear, even if it’s different from what the managers themselves want to talk about. Sorting it out will build trust and further cooperation across a whole spectrum of other related issues, leaving managers to manage, while employees willingly look after their own patch. Make sure minutes are brief, but don’t leave an issue until actions to resolve it or move it ahead are agreed and allocated to specific people by a specific time.

Keeping a safety system alive requires it to function daily. Here’s an analogy: You don’t spend a lot of money on a car and leave it in the garage. First of all, no one gets any benefit out of it, secondly, the battery goes flat, so you can’t use it even if you want to. You need an owner, a driver, fuel added, oil and water checked and you need to take it out daily to get value. It all takes a bit of organising but once you’ve got it running, it largely takes care of itself.

Other related articles:

  1. Managing safety in a recession
  2. Want to be a good safety leader?
  3. What works with safety systems? Less may be more

What can SafetyPro do to help you: We have plenty of direct experience with auditing and developing safety systems that work. Here are a few of the services you might find helpful:

  • Pre audit checks: Where are you OK/not OK? What are the most effective solutions?
  • Mentoring your team: Safety systems implementation, using prepared, step by step plans.
  • Emergency recovery: Getting a lot done in a short time to get properly back on track prior to an audit.
  • Training for managers and supervisors in key concepts, such as accident investigation, hazard management, understanding the legislation.
  • Paper and software based safety management systems. Many versions to chose from.

Call SafetyPro on (09) 535 4355 to talk through options.

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