How do you audit?
Most standards, whether OSHA, ANSI, or something else, tell an organization WHAT is has to do, but not necessarily HOW or by WHO. Most organizations fill in those details through policies and procedures.
For example, OSHA says that a ladder shall be inspected before use each shift. Your company might then have a policy that says who conducts the inspection, the training required to conduct the inspection, the form on which the inspection is documented, etc.
When you conduct your audits, are you auditing the output (the completed form) or the process (Employee A, who is properly trained, performed the inspection at the start of the shift, and filled out form XYZ prior, and submitted it to the operations manager prior to using the ladder...or whatever process you have in place)?
One type of audit certainly takes longer, but it gives more assurance that the process is carried out properly.
I'll give my answer in the comments
Comments (6)
We do a mix of both, and we try to take a risk-based approach. When you have limited time and resources you have to pick your battles. It is really easy to flip through a stack of ladder or forklift inspection forms, make sure there's one for each day and call it good. Going and observing the process or interviewing the employee about the process is a much more time consuming task.
We will do many many "paper audits" to check that something was documented. We then focus on high risk processes to audit. For the ladder example, this might include approaching an employee using a ladder, introducing yourself if necessary and telling them what you're doing, followed by a few simple questions. "Can you tell me about the requirements for using a ladder?" They might talk about training or the inspection. "Can you tell me what is required for an inspection?" They might describe the steps or even show the form. "Can you show me where you submit the form?" I might then take the form they filled out that shift and compare it to the ladder to ensure it wasn't "pencil whipped". If all of that goes well, audit complete. If there are lingering questions, I might take a deeper dive.
This works really well for things like fire extinguisher or eyewash inspections. It's one thing to check that the tag is signed, it's another to have the person signing it demonstrate that they're actually following the process.
In my experience, in many organizations, the only time an employee might demonstrate a task is in training. They will demonstrate a proper forklift inspection and then never actually be observed doing it again until three years later. The LOTO standard sort of has this built in as an annual requirement, but most other standards do not.
Well for the last 20 years of my manufacturing career and went into consulting my corporation was and still is really really into LEAN! Lean taught me to always think in terms of process so that is my initial inclination! Audit is something that is a important component of PDCA! If i was at still with Parker Hannifin it would be process all the way! The ladder is not to spec! WHY and Why was I the one to catch it?
Before I was a Lean Guy I learned that very few things are absolute! Most of my smaller customers do not practice Lean. I guess knowing the real world I would initially do an output audit, and once I found something not to spec, someone would do a process audit! I would try to assign it to the person that did not catch it that should have!
My $.02