Preparing a Compliance Survey What is it and how does it work?

1. Preparing a Compliance SurveyWhat is it and how does it work? Robin Jones President South African Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

2. What is a Compliance Survey? The Best way to start is to Eliminate all the things that are not part of this Compliance survey Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) Written Safe Operating Procedures (WSOP) Planned Job Observation (PJO) Critical Task Analysis (CTA) Part of an ISO Audit Plus -- you may have other procedures in your workplace These are the processes which were required in the beginning and lead on to a Compliance Survey

3. This leads to the question, “What is a Compliance Survey?” There may be different definitions but this is my interpretation “It is a systematic examination of a management procedure to gauge the effective compliance of the procedure. The survey is both objective and subjective and intended to be unbiased

4. Does Management have to do these Compliance Surveys? If you are asking is this written into the Occupational Health and Safety Act , in general terms the answer is YES. (more later) If your management wants to ensure that the business is running smoothly, profitably, efficiently and legally then this is one of the tools that management can use.

5. Wise (early) advice from a DoL Inspector “When investigating an accident and determining management’s responsibility for “negligence” in non-compliance of the OHSAct, we ask 3 questions. 1. Could the event have been foreseen? 2. Could something have been done to prevent the said accident? 3. Was anything actually done to prevent the said accident? If management fail this test, it implies “wilful negligence” and that is a serious offence.”

6. Let’s consider this scenario. A serious accident (fatality?) occurs at your workplace and in line with the requirements of the OHSAct, Section 27 (2) you report the accident to the DoL. You are not really worried as you have done all your homework (HIRA) and many documents are in place (WSOPs, PJOs, Letters of appointment, Training records, etc) A visit by an Inspector, followed by a formal enquiry uncovers an “Oops!” In the pressures of production certain documents are not fully completed by responsible staff. You hear such excuses as “we’ve done that job many times before, no-one got hurt before, a competent artisan was doing the job, ........ And so on and on..... “

7. How does the Oops! effect management? Section 37 (1) “Whenever an employee does or does not do any act which it would be an offence in terms of this Act for the employer of such employee .... To do or omit to do, then unless it is proved that— (a) In doing or omitting to do that act the employee was acting without the connivance or permission of the employer ..... (b) It was not under any condition or in any circumstance within the scope of the employee to do or omit to do an act ........ and.. (c) All reasonable steps were taken by the employer .... to prevent any act or omission of the kind in question, then The employer himself shall be presumed to have done or omitted to do such act

8. Does Management have to do these Compliance Surveys? In an earlier slide I asked this question “If you are asking is this written into the Occupational Health and Safety Act , in general terms the answer is YES.” Here is the answer Section 37 (1) {and much further down it says} ......and the fact that he (the employer or user ) issued instructions forbidding any act or omission of the kind in question shall not, in itself, be accepted as sufficient proof that he took all reasonable steps to prevent the act or omission..........

9. How do you set up the Compliance Survey? You may have various process procedures For example:- Isolation/Lockout Permit Hot work Permit Vessel Entry Permit Excavation Permit Work on Radio-active device Working at Heights Permit Other Select any one for a start --- the others can come later

11. Explain the step by step process for a Compliance Survey Select a Document e.g. Isolation/Lockout Permit List all the questions on the permit Decide on a weighting system (if necessary) Conduct a physical inspection of the permits Transfer the data to an analysis sheet Highlight the deficiencies Prepare a report for Management For the purpose of this explanation the foreman plays a key role

12. Explain the step by step process for a Compliance Survey Select a Document e.g. Isolation/Lockout Permit List all the questions on the permit Decide on a weighting system (if necessary) Conduct a physical inspection of the permits Transfer the data to an analysis sheet Highlight the deficiencies Prepare a report for Management For the purpose of this explanation the foreman plays a key role

14. Explain the step by step process for a Compliance Survey Select a Document e.g. Isolation/Lockout Permit List all the questions on the permit Decide on a weighting system (if necessary) Conduct a physical inspection of the permits Transfer the data to an analysis sheet Highlight the deficiencies Prepare a report for Management For the purpose of this explanation the foreman plays a key role

16. Explain the step by step process for a Compliance Survey Select a Document e.g. Isolation/Lockout Permit List all the questions on the permit Decide on a weighting system (if necessary) Conduct a physical inspection of the permits Transfer the data to an analysis sheet Highlight the deficiencies Prepare a report for Management For the purpose of this explanation the foreman plays a key role

17. EXAMPLE 1

18. EXAMPLE 2

19. Explain the step by step process for a Compliance Survey Select a Document e.g. Isolation/Lockout Permit List all the questions on the permit Decide on a weighting system (if necessary) Conduct a physical inspection of the permits Transfer the data to an analysis sheet Highlight the deficiencies Prepare a report for Management For the purpose of this explanation the foreman plays a key role

23. Explain the step by step process for a Compliance Survey Select a Document e.g. Isolation/Lockout Permit List all the questions on the permit Decide on a weighting system (if necessary) Conduct a physical inspection of the permits Transfer the data to an analysis sheet Highlight the deficiencies Prepare a report for Management For the purpose of this explanation the foreman plays a key role

25. What does this sheet highlight? 90% Target

27. Put in some colour and it all becomes clearer

29. Explain the step by step process for a Compliance Survey Select a Document e.g. Isolation/Lockout Permit List all the questions on the permit Decide on a weighting system (if necessary) Conduct a physical inspection of the permits Transfer the data to an analysis sheet Highlight the deficiencies Prepare a report for Management For the purpose of this explanation the foreman plays a key role

30. Conclusion If I was asked what is Management’s function, I could say, “Make money, lot’s of it!” While making all this money, management have to comply with Legal and Financial requirements and Moral obligations (Don’t forget the King Reports) One of the ways to make money is to ensure that no losses occur (accidents, incidents, prosecutions, production stoppages, or any host of other reasons to lose money. A Compliance Survey is just one more tool in the Management Toolbox

31. Thank you for your patience Any questions?