Last month, we focused on how companies are broadening their definition of safety and advancing EHS capabilities to promote cultures of safety and zero-incident workplaces. As part of this discussion, we examined Chemical Safety Software’s (CSS) risk assessment module, including its ability to facilitate workplace audits.
This month, we will delve into auditing capabilities across EHS systems, exploring their utility and the four auditing features every safety manager should use.
Workplace audits help maintain the sustainability, health, compliance, and safety initiatives of your company. Safety managers know that leveraging EHS auditing capabilities is a powerful way to expose potential risks in a workplace’s policies and procedures.
When selecting an EHS system, it is important to evaluate its auditing capabilities. We have compiled a list of four of these auditing features to prioritize during your search.
1: Customizable Audit Lists
First, look for a system that is easily customizable. The ability to customize your EHS auditing system enhances reliability and efficiency, enabling you to prioritize your facility’s specific high-risk areas and adjust the frequency of audits accordingly.
CSS’s customizable audit software gives safety managers the flexibility to create custom audits using the Audit Module and Building features. Managers can adjust the question types used and the recurrence of audits, among other features that tailor the audits to the specific facility.
2: Regulatory Compliance Tracking
Auditing is a highly beneficial tool for monitoring regulatory compliance. Be sure to select an auditing software integrated within a larger EHS software platform that manages your facility’s permits and compliance needs.
One way CSS’s system does this is through permit tracking software that compares sample data from audits with the organization’s permits to identify discrepancies.
3: Mobile Application Capabilities
As discussed in previous articles, mobile apps are quickly becoming central to the way safety managers utilize EHS systems, including conducting audits. Verdantix research found that auditing is one of the five primary uses of EHS mobile applications.[1]
Mobile applications enable safety managers and other team members to easily scan barcodes or input container data on their mobile devices and sync that data into a comprehensive audit.
Look for an EHS auditing system that provides a mobile application that is fully integrated with your chemical inventory. It is also important to check that your EHS software’s corresponding mobile application operates when the device is offline, as CSS’s does, to prevent delays and errors from connection issues.
4: Efficient Access to Data Analysis
Audits are most effective when their resulting data is accessible and used to identify and address safety, environmental, health, and compliance risks.
CSS’s audit system prioritizes turning audit data into usable information for corrective actions. After employees conduct an audit, the CSS system quickly generates Audit Summaries and Facility Key Performance Indicators, providing safety managers with the tools needed to assess areas in need of improvement.
Be sure to keep these four audit features in mind when selecting and utilizing your EHS system. Check back next month, when we will shift our focus to companies’ evolving EHS budgets and their prioritization of sustainability.
[1] Verdantix, Market Overview: The Evolving Universe of EHS Mobile Apps, March 2020.
