National Safety Council

9/21/2014 1
Safety Audits-
An Effective Tool for
Disaster Management


M M Kulkarni
Director
National Safety Council
National Safety Council
9/21/2014 2
A systematic, objective and
documented evaluation of
occupational safety & health systems
and procedures. (IS 14489:1998)

Definition
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The purpose of an audit is to detect
degradation and defects in a management
system with a view to rectify them at the same
time ensure compliance with relevant
statutory requirements.
Provide the organization with an opportunity
to assess its own OSH systems against OSH
system standard and identify areas for
improvement
Determine conformity of the implemented
OSH system with specified requirements and
identify areas for improvement.
Objectives
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Subjects every area activity to a systematic critical
examination to identify strengths and weaknesses and
the areas of vulnerability.
It periodically examines management systems to
ensure appropriateness of goals & objectives and that
control systems to achieve them are still working & fit.
It provides meaningful information from systematic
inspection of
- Physical Safeguards
- Systems of Work
- Rules & Procedures
- Training Methods
It helps management to achieve efficient & profitable
operation.
Approach
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Factories Act, 1948 :
Section 7A -Mandatory for the occupier to provide
a safe system of work.
General duty placed on occupier to provide a safe
system of work for which safety audit can be used as
a tool

Factory Rule:
General responsibilities of occupier include providing
evidence to show that he has identified major
accident hazards which can be done through Safety
Audits.
Statutory Provisions
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Rule 9 of the MFR (CIMAH) Rules, 2003.
Safety Audit Reports: the occupier of any new and the
existing industrial activity shall arrange to carry out Safety
Audit as under:
(a) internally once in a year by a team of suitable
plant personnel
(b) Externally once in two years by competent
person approved in this behalf
in the year when an external audit is carried out, it
would not be necessary to carry out internal audit
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Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous
Chemicals Rules, 1989
Occupier to conduct an independent safety audit once a
year and send the safety audit report to the Chief
Inspector and Pollution Control Board.

Rule 10 (4). occupiers of both the new and existing
industrial activities shall carry out independent safety
audits of the respective industrial activities with the
help of an expert, not associated with such industrial
activities

Rule (6). The occupier shall update the safety audit
report once a year by conducting a fresh safety audit

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Response
Recovery
Mitigation
Prevention
Preparedness

IMPACT

Disaster management cycle
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There is an Inter-relationship
between the Safety Audit & the
Disaster Management Cycle
pertaining to its Four stages viz.
Prevention, Mitigation,
Preparedness & Response.
Inter-relationship
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1. OSH policy
2. OSH organisational set up
3. Education & training
4. Employees participation in OSH management
5. Motivational and promotional measures for OSH
6. Safety manual and rules
7. Compliance with statutory requirements
8. New equipment review/inspection
9. Accident reporting, analysis, investigation and
implementation of recommendations
10.Risk assessment including hazard identification
Safety Audit Elements of OSH System
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11. Safety inspections
12. Health and safety improvement plan/targets
13. First-aid facilities-OH centre
14. PPE
15. Good housekeeping
16. Machine and general area guarding
17. Material handling equipment
18. Electrical and personal safeguarding
19. ventilation, illumination and noise
20. Work environment monitoring system

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21. Prevention of occupational diseases including
periodic medical examination
22. Safe operating procedures
23. Work permit system
24. Fire prevention, protection system
25. Emergency preparedness plans
26. Process/plant modification procedure
27. Transportation of hazardous substances
28. Hazardous waste treatment and disposal
29. Safety in storage and warehousing
30. Contractor safety system
31. Safety for customers (including MSDS)
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Hazardous area classification
Requirement of flame-proof equipments
stability of plant and structures
Adequacy of fire water requirement & other
facilities.
Detection system for toxic leak and fire
Provision and adequacy of PPEs
Common/related Elements
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Storage, handling and transportation of
hazardous chemicals
Work permit system
Process safety HAZOP Study
Review and testing of emergency plan
Training to first responders and other key
persons
Mutual aid system
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The Standard includes a Questionnaire
asking for information on elements of an OSH
system vide its ANNEX A item No. 25 viz.
Emergency Preparedness Plans (On-Site/Off-
Site). The Standard prescribes to focus on
emergency planning system as an OSH
systems.

The Standard prescribes to send
questionnaire on various topics, one of them
being EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS (ANNEX
C Item No. 166 to 175).
IS 14489:1998
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Element on Emergency preparedness :
Preparation of Emergency plan
Frequency of conducting Mock drills
Location of Emergency control center,
assembly points
Emergency team key persons
Adequacy of protective and rescue
equipments
Training to emergency rescue team
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Emergency communication
Emergency power supply
Emergency Medical Response
Emergency alarm system
Mutual aid scheme

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One of the aspects is compliance with
statutory provisions. NSCs approach includes
verification of compliance with statutory
provisions in which it covers verification of
coverage under PLIA also.

NSC has been helping industrial
managements in complying with statutory
provisions as no Chief Executive would like to
violate them. This has been an important item
in the audit scope.
Compliance with statutory provisions
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The auditor(s) have the professional
knowledge, good track record and enjoy
credibility.
Necessary to have a state-level list of such
accredited/competent auditors.
The accreditation by an independent State
Level Accreditation Agency set up by the State
Labour Department in consultation with the
Factory Inspectorate.
The Safety Audit Team to be multi-
disciplinary. NSC always has been ensuring
this approach.
Quality of SA & Competence of Auditors
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The audit carried out by a competent auditors
covering all the elements mentioned here would
improve the quality of Emergency Plan and help
in upgrading the Status of Accident Prevention,
level of Emergency Preparedness / Mitigation and
skill in Emergency Response Thus strengthening
efforts in dealing with industrial
disasters/emergencies.
National Safety Council
9/21/2014 21
Thank you!