Safety auditing of factories involved in dangerous processes and dangerous occurrences has been established in India. All credit goes to the 1987 amendments to the 1948 Factories Act that we know as Chapter VAT which prescribes provisions related to hazardous processes.
It was the 1984 Bhopal disaster that claimed 16,000 lives and maimed more than 500,000 people that prompted a serious review of existing safety laws. Safety Audit has currently become one of the spearheads to achieve a safe and healthy environment in industrial establishments.
In the years since the tragic Bhopal incident, the accident rate, the rate of dangerous occurrences, and dangerous disasters have all dropped dramatically. While production and productivity are reaching new heights with your graph always pointing up, this achievement becomes more pronounced. Ruthless globalization and competition have changed the definition of an accident from “absence of risk or danger” to “acceptable level of risk.” But it is a complement to the regulatory follow-up together with the management’s concern that despite the new dimensions reached in the risk assumption activities; as is evident in the upcoming technological achievements and, of course, the inflated Guinness World of Records, we have not heard of any major misfortune or tragedy related to industrial activity since 1984.
The security audit begins with the self-assessment of an individual employee. You are encouraged to check his credentials against unsafe acts committed knowingly or unknowingly. The factory carries out its internal safety audit as they are aware that an accident or dangerous event delays productivity and increases loss, while an accident-free period has become a marked value-add. They adhere to the golden principle of “A penny saved is a penny earned.” The society has also risen to an accident free environment. They have whistleblowers and non-governmental organizations armored with the latest “Right to Information (RTI) Rules. Various official authorities in India are also equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software to monitor and identify any malpractices that lead to accidents and dangerous occurrences. For example, satellite imagery, in turn, reveals where there is smoke in the sky and brown water gushing out of streams and rivers.
External security audits and internal security audits have their own intrinsic qualities. An internal security audit, conducted by a committee of experienced factory experts, reveals most unhidden unsafe acts and conditions. After all, the occupant and his employees know the conditions of his factory better than others. An external security audit, conducted by experts constituted from other factories, academic professionals or registered with the DGFASLI, returns a non-compliant, non-corrupted perspective report, along with solutions and reference advice.
By far the best type of security audit could only take place when both internal experts and guest experts mix to review and improve a security audit. locus standi and modus operandi.
Under the guidance and umbrella of a regular safety audit with religious follow-up measures, factories are slowly but steadily moving towards a benchmark of zero accidents and zero pollution.
The objective of a comprehensive security audit is to systematically and independently examine whether activities and related results conform to planned fixes and whether these fixes are implemented safely and effectively to achieve the organization’s written health and safety policy. The effort would be to collect independent information on the efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of the total health and safety management system and suggest plans or corrective actions for improvement. The objective is to examine each stage of the health and safety management system to measure compliance with the controls that the organization has developed, with the ultimate goal of evaluating their effectiveness and their validity for the future.
The aim is to carry out our systematic critical assessment of all potential hazards involving man, machine and material, which also includes plant services and method of operation. In general, the objective is to cover the examination and qualitative evaluation of all facets of safety in each activity including research and development, design and design, occupational health and hygiene, environmental characteristics and control, plant, product and process safety, public and employee safety. It involves a review of the health and safety aspect in production, technical operation, maintenance, authorization certificates, emergency procedures, job description, operating instructions, training, cleanliness, personal attitude, manager-worker relationship, worker participation in health and safety matters, etc.
The office of the Chief Factories Assessor, now called the Director General, Factory Labor, Services and Consulting Institute, has developed a comprehensive format for conducting a factory/workplace safety audit. A security professional or a team of security experts can base their exercise on the format mentioned below. They can improvise to enrich it even more. The security audit report will be considered complete if each and every item is reviewed and supplemented with findings and expert advice for future course correction.
The security audit format is as follows:
1.0 GENERAL INFORMATION
TO) WEBSITE INFORMATION
Site area (site layout and 10 km radius drawing area.
Number of employees
Manufactured products and capacity
Meteorological data of the area
b) PRODUCTION INFORMATION
· Processed products
Process details (broad) with specific reference to hazardous steps/areas
Raw materials/intermediates with inventory
Hazardous material used with inventory
· Storage of material- capacity, location, storage conditions and details.
against) COPIES FOR CONSULTATION
Recent security audit report
risk analysis
Risk analysis
On-site plan and mock trials thereon
· Exterior map of the area.
2.0 MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
TO) THE SECURITY POLICY
Policy Content
· Traffic
Promotions/Awareness Building
b) ATTITUDE
Awareness at various levels
Willingness to learn/change
Recognition of security as an important function
against) SECURITY STRUCTURE
Organization structure – reporting relationship
Qualifications/experience of key people
Functions and responsibilities
Specific knowledge of auditing/hazard analysis, etc.
Line Managers Responsibility for Safety
Safety as a factor in performance evaluation
Security role in MES
3.0 SECURITY SYSTEMS
TO) SAFETY FUNCTION
Role of security versus other functions
Safety procedure in the works
Training given to security personnel/other employees
b) SECURITY INSTRUCTIONS
working foot instructions
area instructions
Warnings/Legal Instructions
against) DOCUMENTATION
Manuals (Security/Fire/Others)
MSDS
Audit
Legal compliance
d) FIRE PROTECTION
· Organization
Roles and responsibilities
Detailed installation
FEA Schedule/Protection Equipment (detectors) etc.
Fire Load Assessment
Fire alarm/siren
Firefighting arrangement (Water, tender, etc.)
external support
· Codes and standards.
my) WORK PERMIT / AUTHORIZATION
Work order
work permit system
Authorities
Monitoring/Controls
F) SECURITY INSPECTION
Inspection frequency
constitution of the team n
· Results report
Action on deficiencies
security sampling
gram) INVESTIGATION
accidents
abnormal incidents/deviation
· Teamwork
Sample Report Examination
h) AUDIT/INSPECTION
security audit
Inspection of security elements.
Frequency
Agencies used (internal/external)
Action derived from audits
Yo) COMPLIANCE
Regulatory compliance status
compliance record
· Supervision
j) EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
risk analysis
on-site plan
Development of vulnerable scenarios
off site plan
mock trials
· Review
Mutual aid regime
k) COMMUNICATION/TRAINING
safety communication
Safety Committee
Warning Signs/Placards
information sharing
Training program (Security/Fire/First Aid)
· Motivation
4.0 TECHNICAL SYSTEMS
TO) DESIGN
Documentation design
Adopted codes and standards
Document update
plant modifications
Identification of ships, pipelines, etc.
b) OPERATION
· Operating procedures
· Staff training
Operational security consideration
against) MAINTENANCE
maintenance procedures
Vessel/Equipment/Piping Inspection – Condition Monitoring
story cards
Job security analysis
Electrical Area Classification
Safety protectors (relief valves, rupture discs, firing systems, etc._
Corrosion and monitoring
Codes and standards
Compliance
d) PERSONAL PROTECTION
Classification of areas
Toxic in the work area
Noise
Personal protection equipment
Employee health monitoring
5.0 HUMAN FACTOR
TO) COMMUNICATION
Join/relationship type
labor problems
Communication about safety issues.
Safety Participation
b) TRAINING
Safety training programs
Frequency
· Contents
Stake
Evaluation of effectiveness
against) MOTIVATION
suggested schemes
prize/penalties
·Competence
d) REVIEW PROCESS
Safety review
Participant Reviews
Improvement plans
6.0 FACILITY SAFETY AUDIT
Visit the site to physically assess the state of security, including cleanliness.
A well-executed security audit and religiously adopted follow-up security measures would spontaneously result in the achievement of a healthy factory index. A safety index is the ratio of the safety status of the previous year to the current year. This index would be less than 1. The more a factory is concerned with safety, the occupational health of its employees and the maintenance of the environment, the lower and healthier the safety index will be.
