No one knows when an emergency will take place. From a technical issue to a building fire, these scenarios can compromise business operations and the safety of everyone. This is where the importance of auditing buildings comes in.
As a facility manager, engineer, or architect, the health and safety of everyone around is crucial for success. Are you someone who manages a building? Then you need to conduct safety audits to assess practices as well as determine how to make your environment more efficient and safer.
Safety audits help reduce the risk of accidents by establishing security procedures. Understanding the importance of these standards and the basis of life safety compliance is essential for ongoing success.
Why Auditing Buildings is Necessary
Building managers should ensure their facility complies with the necessary safety measures. When it comes to analyzing your building to create a holistic safety solution, audits are crucial. But, they’re not usually considered this way.
If the term ‘audit’ entreats a variety of clipboards, interrogations, as well as inspections, you’re expecting the worst or had terrible experiences.
Safety audits are the key to determining the current situation of your safety performance and where it should be. Safety audits shouldn’t be a policing process. So, consider them a positive learning avenue to improving your team’s safety.
Building audits examine the safety and integrity of your industrial or commercial buildings and premises. They also identify and solve building safety-related risks, enabling you to ensure appropriate working conditions.
However, it doesn’t end there.
- Auditing buildings unravel more than what is going wrong. It identifies risks in the building, including the levels of those risks.
- Setting up an audit system also protects workers from issues ranging from accidents and illnesses. It motivates workers and makes them understand that their well-being is secure.
- A severe health and safety incident could result in disapproving publicity that impedes progress. Thus, a well-conducted safety audit can protect an organization’s assets.
- Auditing buildings identify weaknesses and strengths in safety procedures and processes. It also assesses if an organization and its safety program follow safety standards.
Through building audits, companies can ensure adequate resources devoted to safety as well as make recommendations for improvements.
How to Conduct a Proper Life Safety Audit?
Consider the following steps when performing a building safety audit:
1. Choose Your Audit Team
Choosing a team of experts to access the building environment is the first step toward performing a safety audit. Some companies may assign internal employees to perform the audit or hire a consultant to assemble an objective outlook. Irrespective of who you want to use, it’s crucial for workers to assess each other’s settings to prevent biased results.
After assembling your audit team, find out if they understand the standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This will give them the understanding to identify safe practices and building hazards.
2. Get Ready for the Audit
Developing a checklist and reviewing the company’s safety protocols may benefit the audit team. The checklist recognizes areas requiring more significant inspection. Knowing how the building’s current performance measures against the organization’s expectations is necessary. Safety audit preparations could also involve assigning tasks to particular team members.
3. Visit the Building
Another step toward performing a building safety audit is visiting the building you want to evaluate. While taking a walk-through, it’s best to consider the following factors:
- Equipment placement: Review where they place equipment to find out if it’s accessible and appropriately stored.
- Lighting: Check the room lighting to see if it’s visible for people to view their surroundings. You can test the intensity of HID lamps in a room or check if there are good light bulbs.
- Signage: Check for signs that warn people of hazardous materials and offer close directions on the operation of machinery. Some employees may already have the necessary training. But, placing signs around buildings could exemplify a company’s safety culture or reinforce safety protocols.
4. Observation is Key
Observing experts while working could help you discover if they’re upholding company safety standards. Watch how they’re handling and maintaining machinery. For instance, if employees are working with a forklift, ensure they don’t take walkways and be careful when loading and transferring equipment. Check if employees wear gloves, goggles, helmets, as well as protective gear.
Try taking samples to test for hazardous materials before you go. Also, check equipment, countertops surfaces, and storage spaces’ temperatures.
5. Interview Workers
You can interview the supervisor of the building you’re auditing for record purposes. Find out how they’re replenishing materials and their training process for new employees. Discover how managers allow the use of specific equipment as well as their communication processes for direction and decision making. You can make the following findings:
- What’s the duration for the training of new personnel?
- How often do you conduct staff meetings to discuss safety protocols?
- How often do you carry out walk-throughs?
- Do your workers have to meet specific standards before operating heavy machinery?
- Do you have records of those that run the equipment at certain times?
6. Evaluate the data
After observing the building and gathering data, you can evaluate your findings and conclude the facility’s adherence to safety measures. Confide in your team by sharing your concerns. Maybe they are already aware of the same thing and reaffirming your beliefs. Proceed by collaborating to suggest how to make the building safer for everyone.
Collaborate with the Drawing Specialists for Effective Auditing
Are you a facility manager, architect, or engineer? Do you manage many older buildings across a large complex or a city? Then you need to check whether your drawing systems and production methods are outdated.
If you’re auditing buildings to ensure they comply with life safety, you don’t need extensive paper drawings. Our paperless drawing solutions can help you streamline processes.
We are known as the Drawing Specialists. And there’s a reason why they call us so. We audit, organize, and maintain drawings. Let our professionals at DCM handle all your business drawings.
Trust us with your drawings and access a digital system that enables easy organization. By implementing an optimized and automated drawing system, you can bid farewell to the countless problems associated with outdated paper drawings. Contact us today!