Health and Safety Audits: A Complete Guide for UK Businesses

Health and safety audits are one of the most powerful tools available for improving workplace safety. A well-conducted audit provides an objective assessment of your safety management arrangements, identifies gaps and weaknesses, and highlights opportunities for improvement. Yet many organisations treat audits as a tick-box exercise, missing the real value they can deliver.

The HSE recommends that organisations have formal procedures in place for auditing and reporting on health and safety performance. This is not just good practice. It is a key element of an effective safety management system and demonstrates that your organisation takes its responsibilities seriously. For organisations seeking ISO 45001 certification or maintaining accreditations such as CHAS, Constructionline, or SafeContractor, regular auditing is essential.

This guide explains what health and safety audits involve, why they matter, how to conduct them effectively, and how to turn audit findings into real improvements in your organisation's safety performance.

What Is a Health and Safety Audit?

A health and safety audit is a systematic, independent examination of your organisation's health and safety management arrangements. It assesses whether your policies, procedures, and practices are adequate, whether they are being followed, and whether they are achieving the intended outcomes.

The HSE defines a health and safety audit as "the collection of independent information on the efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of the total health and safety management system and drawing up plans for corrective action." In practical terms, this means looking at everything from your written policies to how work is actually carried out on the ground, and identifying where the gaps lie.

Audits differ from inspections. An inspection typically focuses on physical conditions and immediate hazards at a specific point in time. An audit takes a broader view, examining the systems, processes, and behaviours that determine how well safety is managed across the organisation. Both are important, but they serve different purposes.

Why Health and Safety Audits Matter

Regular health and safety audits deliver significant benefits for organisations:

Identifying weaknesses before they cause harm: Audits reveal gaps in your safety arrangements that might otherwise go unnoticed until an incident occurs. Finding and fixing these weaknesses proactively prevents injuries and ill health.

Verifying compliance: An audit confirms whether your organisation is meeting its legal obligations under health and safety legislation. It provides evidence of compliance that can be valuable during regulatory inspections or in the event of an incident investigation.

Driving continuous improvement: Audits identify opportunities to improve your safety management, not just problems to fix. They help organisations move beyond basic compliance towards genuinely effective safety performance.

Meeting client and accreditation requirements: Many clients, particularly in construction and contracting, require evidence of regular safety auditing. Accreditation schemes such as ISO 45001, CHAS, and SafeContractor require organisations to demonstrate systematic monitoring and review of their safety management systems.

Building confidence: Regular audits give management confidence that safety is being managed effectively. They also demonstrate to employees that the organisation takes safety seriously and is committed to providing a safe working environment.

Reducing costs: By identifying and addressing risks before they cause incidents, audits help organisations avoid the significant costs associated with accidents, including lost productivity, compensation claims, increased insurance premiums, and potential fines.

Types of Health and Safety Audit

Health and safety audits can take various forms depending on their scope, purpose, and who conducts them:

Internal Audits

Internal audits are conducted by people within your organisation. They provide a cost-effective way to monitor safety performance on an ongoing basis. However, internal auditors must be competent and sufficiently independent to provide objective assessments. A manager auditing their own department, for example, may not provide the level of objectivity needed. Cross-departmental auditing, where managers audit areas other than their own, can help address this issue.

External Audits

External audits are conducted by independent third parties, such as health and safety consultants or certification bodies. They bring expertise, objectivity, and fresh perspectives that internal auditors may lack. External audits are particularly valuable for comprehensive reviews of your safety management system, for meeting accreditation requirements, and for providing assurance to senior management, boards, and external stakeholders.

Compliance Audits

Compliance audits focus on whether your organisation is meeting specific legal requirements. They check whether you have the policies, procedures, and arrangements required by legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and other relevant regulations. Compliance audits answer the question: are we meeting our legal obligations?

Management System Audits

Management system audits assess the overall effectiveness of your health and safety management system. They examine whether you have a systematic approach to managing safety, whether that system is being implemented as intended, and whether it is delivering the desired outcomes. ISO 45001 certification requires regular management system audits by accredited certification bodies.

Topic or Activity Audits

These audits focus on specific topics or activities rather than the entire safety management system. Examples include fire safety audits, manual handling audits, COSHH audits, or audits of specific high-risk activities such as work at height or confined space entry. Topic audits allow organisations to examine particular areas in depth.

How to Conduct a Health and Safety Audit

Effective health and safety auditing follows a structured process. While the specific approach will vary depending on the scope and purpose of the audit, the following steps provide a framework that can be adapted to most situations:

Step 1: Planning and Preparation

Good preparation is essential for an effective audit. Before beginning:

• Define the scope and objectives of the audit clearly

• Identify the areas, activities, or systems to be audited

• Review relevant documentation including policies, procedures, risk assessments, and previous audit reports

• Develop an audit checklist or protocol tailored to the scope

• Schedule the audit and notify relevant personnel

• Ensure the auditor has the competence needed for the subject matter

Step 2: Opening Meeting

Begin the audit with a brief meeting with relevant managers and supervisors. Explain the purpose and scope of the audit, confirm the schedule, and address any questions or concerns. This meeting sets the tone for the audit and helps ensure cooperation from those being audited. Emphasise that the audit is intended to help improve safety, not to apportion blame.

Step 3: Gathering Evidence

The core of the audit involves gathering evidence through multiple methods:

Document review: Examine policies, procedures, risk assessments, training records, inspection reports, incident records, and other relevant documentation. Check whether documents are current, complete, and meet legal requirements.

Observation: Walk through the workplace and observe how work is actually being carried out. Look for hazards, check that controls are in place and being used, and note any discrepancies between documented procedures and actual practice.

Interviews: Talk to managers, supervisors, and employees at all levels. Ask about their understanding of safety procedures, their concerns, and their suggestions for improvement. Interviews often reveal issues that are not visible from documentation or observation alone.

Step 4: Analysis and Evaluation

Analyse the evidence gathered to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Evaluate findings against relevant standards, whether legal requirements, industry good practice, or your own policies and procedures. Prioritise findings based on the level of risk they represent. Significant issues that could result in serious harm should be addressed urgently. Less critical issues can be scheduled for action over a longer timeframe.

Step 5: Reporting

Document the audit findings in a clear, structured report. An effective audit report should include:

• The scope and objectives of the audit

• A summary of the methodology used

• Key findings, both positive and negative

• Specific non-conformances or areas of concern

• Recommendations for corrective action, prioritised by risk

• An overall assessment of the effectiveness of safety management

The report should be factual, objective, and constructive. It should provide management with the information they need to take action.

Step 6: Closing Meeting

Present the audit findings to management in a closing meeting. Discuss the key issues identified, clarify any points of disagreement, and agree on the way forward. This meeting provides an opportunity to ensure that findings are understood and that there is commitment to taking the necessary corrective actions.

Step 7: Follow-Up and Verification

An audit is only valuable if it leads to action. Track the implementation of corrective actions and verify that they have been completed effectively. Follow-up audits or spot checks can confirm that improvements have been made and sustained. Without effective follow-up, audit findings can be forgotten and the same issues may recur.

Key Questions for a Health and Safety Audit

While the specific questions will depend on the scope of your audit, the following provide a starting point for a general health and safety audit:

• Is there a written health and safety policy that is current and communicated to all employees?

• Are roles and responsibilities for health and safety clearly defined at all levels?

• Have suitable and sufficient risk assessments been conducted for all significant activities?

• Are control measures identified in risk assessments actually implemented and effective?

• Is there a system for reporting hazards, incidents, and near misses, and are these reports acted upon?

• Is health and safety training provided to all employees, and are records maintained?

• Are regular workplace inspections conducted, and are findings addressed?

• Is there a valid fire risk assessment, and are fire safety measures adequate?

• Is equipment properly maintained and inspected as required?

• Are contractors managed safely, with their competence verified and their work monitored?

• Is there a process for consulting employees on health and safety matters?

• Are accident and incident statistics monitored, and are trends identified and addressed?

International Considerations

For organisations operating internationally, health and safety auditing presents additional challenges. Different countries have different legal requirements, enforcement approaches, and cultural attitudes to safety. An audit programme for a multinational organisation needs to address these variations while maintaining consistent standards across all locations.

ISO 45001 provides a common framework for safety management that can be applied consistently across borders. Organisations with ISO 45001 certification are required to conduct internal audits and management reviews as part of their ongoing compliance. This provides a structured approach to auditing that works regardless of local regulatory requirements.

When auditing international operations, consider local legal requirements and how they differ from UK standards, language and cultural factors that may affect communication and understanding, local resources and expertise available for implementing corrective actions, and the need for consistency in safety standards across all locations while respecting local differences.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Treating audits as a tick-box exercise rather than a genuine opportunity for improvement

• Using auditors who lack the competence or independence to provide objective assessments

• Focusing only on documentation rather than how work is actually carried out

• Failing to prioritise findings based on risk, treating all issues as equally important

• Producing lengthy reports that obscure the key messages and make action difficult

• Not following up on corrective actions to verify they have been implemented

• Auditing the same areas repeatedly while neglecting others

• Creating an adversarial atmosphere that discourages honesty and cooperation

How Arinite Can Help

At Arinite, we provide comprehensive health and safety audit services that help organisations understand their current position and identify opportunities for improvement. Our team of Chartered (CMIOSH) consultants brings over 500 years of combined experience across virtually every industry, ensuring that our audits are thorough, practical, and focused on what matters.

Our audit services include:

• Comprehensive health and safety management system audits

• Compliance audits against UK legislation and regulations

• ISO 45001 gap analysis and internal audits

• Fire safety audits against the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

• Topic-specific audits covering areas such as COSHH, manual handling, and work at height

• Pre-tender and pre-qualification audits

• Audit programmes for international operations

• Support with developing internal audit capability

With experience supporting over 1,500 UK businesses and operations in more than 50 countries, we understand that every organisation is different. Our approach is practical, proportionate, and focused on delivering audits that drive real improvement. We call it "Keeping It Simple."