Lisa:

Depending oin the scale / complexity of the takeover a 'due diligence' report may (should) have been completed. If so, try to get hold of a copy... It should highlight any major issues that will require urgent attention.

Additionally, I sould suggest most standard internal auditing pro-forma would not address things like insurances and outstanding / imminent / possible claims against the ELI. If you have bought the business, then you have bought the liabilities, and you may need to ask a lot of questions around accident history that you wouldn't often ask during an internal audit...

You could also need to explore how the business has obtained access to competewnt advice in H&S previously. If there was internal advice - is this still available within the business. If Consultant support was used - what evidence is there, and is the consultancy still available to answer questions / provide information...

Otherwise, and like so many things "it depends"...Are the warehouses COMAH sites? Do they require specific licensing? Do you have any input to Environmental issues, or is there any evidence of customer / public complaints which may have a bearing on H&S... Loads of possible questions that standard audit templates may not address...

Good luck. Its always interesting looking at something new!

Steve.

Have you thought of asking the lead person at each site to provide you with a starting point before you get there? How about asking them for brief responses to:
- What aspects of health and safety do you do really well?
- What improvements are in your current plan and when do you expect them to be complete?
- What are your problem areas?

In addition to other areas you check, you could assure yourself whether their responses reflect the evidence you find. Any differences are a good starting point for the review meeting which you should have before leaving (despite the very tight timescale!) and the pre-questions should help to discourage a 'competition' between auditor and auditees to see what can be hidden/exposed most dramatically.

lisa,
Good luck with this, and asking the awkward questions.
You should be thorough and detailed in your analysis and reporting, that way at least you will have a clear conscience and you may actually save people from harm.

You'll probably get a response back from Snr Mgt, that if you can't do it, they have a contractor that will do it for £35 per site & "he" has already told them that all the sites will be compliant, so what more does the Snr team need to worry about, they certainly won't want your probing questions.

Cynical, Moi, NEVER!...