Construction Site Auditing by Non- Experts

1.  PURPOSE – This technical specification provides guidance and structure for non-Construction specialists to perform an audit of a construction site with a view to improving the standard of safety management. The improvements may apply to a specific site or identify thoughts on the application of Company  safety standards or good practices to all Company  sites.

2. Construction Site Auditing by Non- Experts

This specification provides the potential auditor with guidance as to how to audit any or all of three facets of the Construction site:  Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), personal behavior, and site conditions.

It is intended to act as a guide to an auditor and should not be considered mandatory to do each section or all aspects of the possible audits. It is important that the results of any audit are recorded and actions followed up and closed out.

3.  RELATED DOCUMENTS

3.1      Company  Engineering Documents

4WCE-600700     Contractor Safety

CE09012            Construction Safety Management

4.  DEFINITIONS

4.1       Expert:  Capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards and quality issues in the operation, conditions, or surroundings that are unacceptable, hazardous, dangerous, or can initiate such a condition or situation, and has the knowledge and ability to take the necessary steps to abate the hazards identified.

4.2       Non-Expert:  Not intimately familiar with the safety and quality issues related to construction activities but able to recognize specific issues using check lists or prompts and to pursue issues with the appropriate people to correct a problem.

4.3      Audit:  Any review at site undertaken with a view to establishing conformance to good practice, Company  procedural requirements, specifications, or standards with a view to eliminating hazards or poor quality.

5. AUDITING PROCESS

5.1      Field Safety

5.1.1   The auditing of field safety may be done using the checklist provided in Appendix A.

5.1.2   This is an audit of “hard hat” safety and the auditor should be generally looking for compliance with good working practice, proper dress and protective equipment, avoidance of unsafe situations, and work practices and safe behavior.

5.1.3   It is likely that the auditor will need to have any corrective actions addressed by the Company  site representative.

5.1.4   It is important that the auditor work with the Company  site representative and often will be able to point out issues and understand what is happening if accompanied by the Company  site representative.

5.2      Quality

5.2.1   If the audit is going to focus on quality, the auditor should make use of the Standard Company  Construction QA/QC Audit checklists that are kept on the construction web page. These are found on GEM Construction Engineering sharesite.

5.2.2   These are detailed audits of specific topics. If desired, several areas may be audited. However, a level of understanding might be needed if auditing a specialist topic.

5.3      EH&S Management

5.3.1   The audit checklist contained in Appendix A is intended to focus on the key elements that would be audited during an APSAM audit and could be considered as an APSAM-lite audit.

5.3.3   It is possible to undertake this level of audit on any site and an APSAM audit should be chosen when looking more at the method of managing the EH&S process. The Appendix A audit is intended to address the “hard hat” issues in the field.

RECORDING AND MEASURING COMPLIANCE

6.1       It is important that the audit be discussed at the site and the comments reviewed so that the appropriate remedial action can be taken.

6.2       It is important to record the results of the audit in writing using the form in Appendix A. It is also important to agree who will follow up on the completion of open items to ensure that they are closed. Even when an Appendix A checklist is completed, it is useful to convey an overall impression of the site by filling in the comment section of the checklist.

6.3       To obtain a measure of compliance, it is possible to score each site by allocating points to each question. The questions have either a safe or unsafe answer, for the whole or part. A safe answer gives one point. The scores can then be recorded and compared during the life of a project or from site to site. This is done at the discretion of the Project Manager and Manager of Construction who should be consulted before any results are published.

Construction Safety Observation Report (Green Card)