I work in a large multi-site engineering company which employs me (only) in a H&S position. We also have H&S assistance through an annual audit carried out by an external H&S consultancy. I just wondered if this external audit is really required & or just normal industry practice?

Not much to go on here Paul and it raises a few questions. Why is there an external consultancy anyway? Who appointed them? Do you need them? Are they telling you anything yopu don't know? Are they a higher level of quailifaction / IOSH membership than you? Are they acting as a support to you? Do you get constructive feedback from them? Do you do your own inspections, surveys, audits etc? Is it belt and braces? I could go on! Rob makes a good point though. A new pair of eyes often sees things that others might miss.

Thats good advice & ties in with my limited experience of this situation. Actually targeting them at specific concern areas (5yr plan) will assist me & should get a real positive value from them. As with yourself, looking at previous audits, they do very much repeat information & appear to stay in a comfort zone. They are better qualified than me & have a wider range of experience.

If you (or your organisation) wants to recieve external audit (which is no bad thing in my opinion) then why not consider an audit from a safety organisation that will enable you to work towards a standard / award? (rather than any old consultancy auditing you). If I made the decision as to who audited the organiation I work for I'd be either looking: -British Safety Council Five Star Health and Safety Audit (Maybe with a view to working towards a sword of honor award in the long term) https://www.britsafe.org...%20Audit%20Solutions.pdf Or something similar.

Paul, Decimonal's questions are a great starting point in considering whether the service you are receiving is worthwhile. As a consultant, my clients use my services for several reasons: insufficient in-house resources, insufficient in-house expertise, one-off projects, to demonstrate to others that they are taking H&S seriously, to provide an external overview, to provide an independant assessment of performance etc. I would be delighted if it was required or even industry standard practice but as others have said, it is neither. I suggest that you critically examine what it is that you are receiving, whether it adds value to your organisation (i.e. not just you), whether it is in line with what you need or whether you should "re-engineer" the provision.

Paul What makes you think they are better qualified or experienced than you? They might have particular audit skills but do they know your business better than you? Good auditing is a team approach, you and the auditor. Key thing is to agree the scope for each audit, that way you can direct them to areas you feel you want to evaluate.

To echo others here, the audit process should be adding value and support the whole system of safety management system. Your talk of a regurgitation of previous info. and "comfort zones" suggests that value may be questionable and that a review is valid. I'm afraid I'm equally sceptical of some of the "schemes" out there, however a full 18001 accreditation process may be a valid option for an engineering firm operating in a pan-Europe or World Market. I've also experienced free "audits" by company Insurers. Nice, well meaning and helpful people, but not a proper audit by any stretch of the imagination!!!

I do all the audits and my Director picks random target areas to audit me on. We have been audited by BSC in 2010 for their 5 star audit to see where we were at. Im sure we will do something simililar in future. Sometimes I think Id like an external auditer as I have believe I sometimes have a conflict of interest as I work for the company . That way any areas where I feel ignored would be highlighted as they wouldnt pull any punches. As for our insurers doing a free audit. They didnt consult with me very well and so we scored badly in areas that we do actually do quite a lot. If they had have at least asked me then they would have know.

I don't wear a watch!

It always amazes me that so many H&S professionals are apparently anti-consultants as a knee-jerk reaction. Is it because you are frightened to admit you don't know everything? Or is is it that you are afraid of being exposed as unable to cope with the demands of the job? Or is it that you are ignorant of your shortcomings? Maybe you're terrified of being replaced by a more cost-effective resource? Or maybe you're secretly jealous of those H&S professionals who have moved in to the exposed world of consulting, either as self-employed or within a larger consulting organisation, always wondering where the next asignment will be comoing from, worrying about the looming tax bill or mortgage/rent payment due. Actually there are some consultants (even some on here) who do a very good job for their clients, who are much appreciated by their clients and are also great H&S professionals too. I'm so glad it's Friday PM.