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Posted By Aileen Williams
My friend works in a local authority house which is home to around 8 children (no physical disabilities but obviously some emotional/behavioural issues) and has associated social services offices attached. They are due for a Health & Safety Audit - what in particular would the auditors be looking for in such an environment?
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Posted By Dean Stevens
Aileen
I've had very very basic audit training and not much experience but hopefully these pointers should help, I'm sure that i will be corrected if my approach is wrong or if i have missed anything.
In general a health and safety audit will be looking at the health and safety system/s in place and how they are performing.
Paperwork i would like to see when auditing is risk assessments, COSHH assessments, staff training records, review of any daily health and safety checks (inc. fire exits), Ensure accident investigations are being conducted following each accident, evidence of near miss/hazard reporting (more aimed at factories and larger organisations),emergency lighting testing, fire alarm testing, fire drill logs.
I'm afraid i can't offer anything aimed more towards your environment due to lack of knowledge.
The auditors may ask for your health and safety policy to see how you are performing against that.
Ensure you have employee liability insurance posters displayed where necessary, notification of fire marshals, first aiders etc. HSAW poster displayed and filled in.
Auditors will also look for things like blocked fire exits, open fire doors, obstructed fire extinguishers/blankets,PAT testing, in general they will be conducting a mini inspection at the same time.
i hope this has helped.
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Posted By Aileen Williams
Thanks very much, that's very helpful. I wonder what they will be looking for in the area where the children live? I'd assume that they'll be checking for adequate supervision, legionella precautions, stuff like that.
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Posted By Dean Stevens
Ok quick brainstorm.
Children with emotional/behavioural problems place of residence.
Things to look for that spring into my mind.
1 Sources of ignition (lighters etc)
2 Fire fuels (rubbish build up etc)
3 Things that they could harm themselves / others with (Knives, mirror they could break etc)
4 Falls from height via window.
5 Easily accessible electrical points (Suicidal)
6 Things they could hang themselves with (Suicidal, e.g belts, ties etc)
7 Access to harmful chemicals/substances (glue)
8 Is there adequate emergency lighting?
Sorry but as stated no experience in this field, still hope this helps.
I'm sure some others will chip in at some point.
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Posted By J Knight
Hi Aileen,
I am a lapsed RoSPA QSA Auditor and am now using Audit 123 (other audit systems exist). An audit is a systematic and independent analysis of the H&S management system, either in part or as a whole. A complete audit will start with the Policy, and evaluate it against a published standard; both QSA and 123 use HSG65, for example. It will then work its way down to operational procedures via polices, risk assessments and so on. The main focus of this sort of audit will always be on the formal systems, so for example, rather than asking 'Are people managing challenging behaviour?' it might ask questions like: Is there a CB policy? Who is named as accountable and resposnible under the CB policy? Do these persons undwerstand their roles? What kinds of training and resources are supplied? Are there Risk Assessments? Do staff know where the Risk Assessments are? And so on. So it is very different from an inspection.
So to answer you question, you need to find out what the scope of the audit is. Is it a complete audit? Or just a management one? Or an operational one? Or what?
Hope that helps, though I suspect it won't,
John
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Posted By Merv Newman
Dean,
very good and quite eye-opening.
I would also give attention to housekeeping. Are living areas/bedrooms/eating areas maintained in a clean and hygienic state ?
Secondly, is a register of H&S actions maintained ? Is there some kind of H&S routine ?
Third, and this may not be a happy one - are all inhabitants clean, bright and tidy with no signs of dirt, bruising, scars.
Just as a last thought, but following your self-harm comments - what do you do with household tools ? You know, hammers, screw drivers, butchers knives and so on ? Any control measures ?
Merv
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Posted By Aileen Williams
Hey, what can I say? You are all quite fabulous! Thanks!
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