Posted By nigelhammond
I have been asked by our directors to weight the scores on our H&S audit forms that our area managers have to complete. I think this is a very good suggestion but is not easy to put into practice. Has anyone come across a good test, formula or algorythm for this? Brace yourselves, this may be a bit involved for a Friday, but here is an approach that I have in mind as a possibility

So far I can think of three groups of ratings that might be used - combined together to produce a score (rating A x rating B x rating C).
A. The first rating is simply to decide how well the standard is met. This would be for the auditor to decide (which we already use):
1 = no significant evidence of working towards the standard
2 = aiming towards the standard but not met yet
3 = standard met
4 = good practice going beyond the standard

The second two ratings would be fixed and embedded on the spreadheet - so the auditor would not have to worry about these - they would just see an end score based a formula that combines the different ratings.

B. The 'Court Case Scenario Test'; Failure to have met the standard:
1 = Not likely to be of interest in a court case
2 = Would not look good in court but unlikely to be critical to a succesful defence.
3 = Would look dire in court if we had not met the standard
(so for example not having a risk assessment for a high risk activity would be a definite 3, whereas not being able to evidence that all staff have read the H&S policy statement might be a 1 or 2 (This is where it gets hard because to me both these standards are still really important to comply with)

C. My third idea for a weighting might be the level of risk if the standard is not met. This could be based on a typical 3x3 risk assessment matrix. (for example, not having a fire risk assessment might be a high risk becuase lots of people could be killed, wheras not setting H&S objectives at team meetings might be a lower risk as it may be great for positive H&S cultures but hard to relate directly to a risk of death)

If anyone has read this far, thanks for your patience and interest!

Posted By Tanya Boyce
I have seen something very similar to the suggestion in set A being used in another company with good success. A note of what the problem was made next to it then at the end the rating used to prioritize.

They didnt go for the idea in B as it was though it may lead to managers just not bothering about problems weighted 1&2 rather than dealing with them in a priority order.

Hope that helps.

Posted By Bob Youel
such systems can be good but the equation that gives the rating must be able to be scrutinised as otherwise it may mean nothing