Posted By Tony abc jprhdnMurphy Can anyone explain in simple terms the difference between an audit and an inspection. Cheers

Posted By Ian G Hutchings Hi Tony Unfortunately life is never that simple. Some people will refer to a 'safety audit' as what you and I may consider to be an inspection. Some American companies tend to do this. The way I look at it is that the term 'audit' comes from 'to listen'. Audit can exist at different levels, such as the whole system, part of a system or even one site procedure. You could audit one risk assessment or one procedure. The main difference being that in audit you are primarily asking questions, but more importantly listening. Inspections typically look at 'things'. Looking for hazards, unsafe conditions, safe/unsafe practices etc. You can see more in documents such as HS(G)65 and BS OHSAS 18001:2007 as descriptions under active monitoring and checking. Hope this helps Ian

Posted By Angela Hayden OHSAS definition of Audit:- Systematic, independent and documented process for obtaining "audit evidence" and evaluationg it ojectively to determine the extendt to which "audit criteria" are fulfilled. In short you are looling for ojective evidence to ensure compliance with either regulations or your own in-house procedures or indeed OHSAS or any other management system. Can be external or internal. Generally held annually or as per an audit schedule. An inspection is a more general look for unsafe acts or conditions, not necessarily looking at the compliance to procedures or regulations. Both ar pro-active ways for putting things right before a problem occurs.

Posted By Pete48 Tony, I have always thought of them this way. No technical base just a personal view that I use to keep my mind straight when using the terms myself. An audit is the in-depth review of the total activity in order to verify conformance to whichever standards the audit addresses. It also assesses internal systems of control that maintain those compliance levels. An inspection is usually an internal system of control but can also be used as an activity within an audit process. It is a systematic assessment of a specifically identified characteristic(s) at the time of the inspection. It usually measures conformance or compliance at the point of activity.

Posted By Jane Blunt I was taught a similar principle from a much simpler standpoint. An audit is a means of discovering: 1. Do you have a management system? 2. Is that system adequate (to meet the demands of your business, legislation, the composition of your workforce, etc)? 3. Is the system being followed? When expressed like that, you can see that inspection may well take place during an audit in order to establish some evidence for any of the three elements. Jane