Health and Safety at Work: Audit and Recommendations

This write-up consists of a health and safety audit that was conducted 10 months ago at Awesome Landscape. Various hazards were identified and recommendations were made to improve the workplace safety. The audit also highlights the importance of waste disposal procedures and compliance with legislation.

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Executive Summary
This write-up consists of a health and safety audit that was conducted 10 months ago. The health
and safety audit was conducted at Awesome Landscape. Certain issues were raised in the audit
that needed to be corrected as they were not in line with the required guidelines. Various
fundamental policies and procedures in consistent with WHS were fully reviewed during the
audit and the possible recommendations made to Awesome Landscape in regard to the
improvements required. Moreover, a proper consultation plan covering not only all the hazards
but also other potential hazards, risk controls and risk control procedures and a hazard register
were prepared during the audit itself.
Below is a list of hazards identified during the process of the audit and the control measures that
can be taken to remedy the hazards;
The entrance sign that was at the front was placed in a very dangerous position, visitors and other
staff could knock themselves while the get in. It was recommended that the sign be shifted into a
much appropriate place to avoid people hurting themselves.
Doors and shelving were also inappropriate, they blocked access. It was recommended that the
door and shelving be shifted to a much appropriate location that would enable access to various
areas.
The receptions desk is not well organized. It was always messy as it was found and this
portrayed a very bad image for the whole office as well. It was recommended that the
receptionist desk be neat and well arranged all the time because it reflects and represent the
image of the whole organization.

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Water strain existed on the television. This was as a result of leakage in the roof. Well, this was a
potential cause of fire in that particular building. It was recommended that the leakage of the top
of the roof be fixed.
It was also noted that there were no sufficient fire exit doors and the available fire exit doors
were not properly located. It is recommended that appropriate action is taken to resolve this
matter such as increasing the number of emergency exits and locating them in appropriate
positions.
Chemical storage was not appropriate too. Dangerous and extremely toxic materials were stored
in other normal sinks instead of them being stored in special designated sinks. It was advised that
chemicals are stored separate from each other depending on the nature of the chemical wastes.
There were also some random tissues that were found next to the stove. This could cause fire in
the entire building. It was advised that the tissue be removed near the stove so as to avoid any
cases of fire.
It was also noted that some very crucial power codes under the desks were not organized in a
safe manner. It was recommended that the various power cables be arranged with their
corresponding cable ties.
There was also a Trip Hazard in the storage room as a result of split carpet, ladder blocking the
door way among others. It was recommended that the carpet be immediately repaired and the
ladder be moved away from the door.

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Office desk 2 was found to be in a very cluttered state. It was recommended that the desk be
made tidy and shelving and tidy clutter be installed.
Lastly, there was furniture that was partially assembled in the office. Here the PIC was instructed
to keep the door locked until all the furniture was assembled.
The receptions desk is not well organized. It was always messy as it was found and this
portrayed a very bad image for the whole office as well. It was recommended that the
receptionist desk be neat and well arranged all the time because it reflects and represent the
image of the whole organization.
Awesome Landscape has complied with the required legislation (Lees, 2012).However; there are
certain instances that the organization has not strictly adhered to the required standards. For
instance, it was noted that Awesome Landscape did not have the required waste disposal
procedures. Their waste materials such as chemicals are not well a properly disposed.
It is recommended that the Awesome Landscape should rectify their waste disposal procedures
and follow the required waste disposal procedures.

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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Purpose of the Audit 1.1
Description of the area of inspection 1.2
Findings 2
Underlying issues that affected the inspection 2.1
Hazards identified 2.2
A risk assessment that was conducted including the risk ratings and propriety levels
recommending levels of controls………………………………………………………………..2.3
Implementation plan………………………………………………………………………….2.4
Discussion………………………………………………………………………………………...3
Recommendations………………………………………………………………………………..4
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………..5
References………………………………………………………………………………………..6
Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………………7

Healthy and Safety at work
Introduction
Purpose of the audit
The purpose of this audit is to help in the identification of some of the areas of no-compliance at
Awesome Landscape Pty Limited Office so as to recommend on areas of improvement (Messier,
2010). It’s also aimed towards verifying that employees and the whole management team is
engaged in the whole safety program, identify areas of potential hazards and recommend on
means of dealing with such hazards.
Description of the area of inspection
The organization Awesome Landscape Pty Limited was founded twelve years ago with the aim
of providing long lasting landscaping solutions and remedies to various interested organizations.
The company is now well established with so many years of experience in there are of
specialization and has even reached at an extent where it works with various subcontracting
companies with the sole aim of offering both diverse and unique landscaping services as to as to
ensure maximum customer satisfaction.
The company is fully committed towards ensuring that it complies with the required legislation
regarding landscaping and that it promotes the safety and well being if its employees in the
process. In order to ensure that the company fully adheres to this, the company has a well
outlined and properly coordinated work health and safety obligation in place. In order to attest
that these obligations are carefully met as per the required standards and expectations, and audit
is conducted. There are a number of findings that were observed in this audit and they were
corrected and recommendations were made in the audit process. There were also some certain
areas where the company showed that it really does well. It is important to however note that this

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report focuses only on the areas of weakness and/or non-compliance with the safety and healthy
procedures.
Findings
Underlying issues that affected the inspection
It was expected that the inspection would go smoothly and in a very quick manner as it was
anticipated by the various stakeholder that made the inspection take place. This was, however,
not the case (Kabir, Abubakar, El-Nafaty, 2010).As a matter of fact there were certain issues that
greatly undermined the inspection and made it much more hectic that it should have been, First
and foremost, the inspection was not properly organized. There was no order in the events that
were being carried out by the appointed officers. Secondly, the employees did not fully cooperate
during the inspection. They felt that the audit was meant to intimidate them of which that was not
the case but to them it felt like so. They therefore did not give their full attention and cooperation
to the officers that were conducted the inspection. Moreover, when recommendations were made
regarding the areas that should be strengthened and ensure that they are in compliance with the
legislation; the employees felt that they were being targeted for not fully doing their job (Dollard
& Bakker, 2010).
Hazards identified
Chair and desk arrangement-The chairs and desks are inappropriately arranged. This puts
employees at the risk of developing various health problems (McNeil, Frey, Embrechts, 2015).
It was also noted that there were no sufficient fire exit doors and the available fire exit doors
were not properly located.

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Chemical storage was not appropriate too. Dangerous and extremely toxic materials were stored
in other normal sinks instead of them being stored in special designated sinks.
There are various sockets that are exposed. They are open and can be easily trickled with water.
This has the effect of causing a fire outbreak. It is recommended that these open sockets are
fixed to avoid the incidents of fire
The receptions desk is not well organized. It was always messy as it was found and this
portrayed a very bad image for the whole office as well. It was recommended that the
receptionist desk be neat and well arranged all the time because it reflects and represent the
image of the whole organization.
A risk assessment that was conducted including the risk ratings and propriety levels
recommending levels of controls
A risk assessment conducted indicated that all the above identified hazards had the probability of
happening. Only the levels of damage and time of happening were expected to significantly
differ.
For the hazard associated with chair and desk arrangement for instance, this hazard had a very
high likelihood of happening. I was certain, only that the time of happening would be quite long.
It was recommended that appropriate action is taken so as to ensure that the elbow as well as the
hands is in the same level with the keyboard when sitting on a desk at a right angle (Dowling &
Leech, 2014). Moreover, ensuring that your computer is in line with your eyes, the screen should
in right angle with your and at a significant length when properly sitting in an upright position

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With the issue of fire exists and doors, it was recommended that appropriate action is taken to
resolve this matter such as increasing the number of emergency exits and locating them in
appropriate positions.
With the issue of chemical storage, it was advised that chemicals are stored separate from each
other depending on the nature of the chemical wastes
Awesome Landscape has complied with the required legislation. However, there are certain
instances that the organization has not strictly adhered to the required standards. For instance, it
was noted that Awesome Landscape did not have the required waste disposal procedures. Their
waste materials such as chemicals are not well a properly disposed.
It is recommended that the Awesome Landscape should rectify their waste disposal procedures
and follow the required waste disposal procedures.
Implementation plan
Action required
and completion
date
Person
responsible and
their
contribution
Factors limiting
effectiveness of
controls
How to
overcome the
factors
How staff can
be encouraged
to participate
Fixing all the
chairs and desks
and ensuring that
they are properly
Heads of relevant
departments in
the company
Ego among other
higher ranking
employees
Educating the
employees on
importance of the
whole activity
Be consulted
prior the whole
activity

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arranged
Fixing of exit
doors and
emergency doors
at the right place
Heads of relevant
departments in
the company
This would
disrupt the flow
of other activities
in the
organization
Informing other
employees on the
likelihood of
disruption of
activities
Educating the
employees on
importance of the
whole activity
Fixing the waste
management
procedures
Heads of relevant
departments in
the company
Adopting to the
new procedures
would be hectic
Preparing
employees prior
Educating them
on significance
of proper waste
management
In regard to a monitoring plan, it was recommended that a monthly follow up is done so as to
ensure that the proposed actions are actually being implemented.
Discussion
The relevant stakeholders were consulted regarding various issues such as hazard identification
and the risk assessment process. It was not just a random inspection that was characterized with a
lot of guess work. Certain actions and standard procedures that were followed to the latter in
identifying the hazards. For risk identification for instance, this is a particular stated process that
is used to evaluate any particular situation at a certain instance so as to determine the potential
cause of harm. Certain risks were identified such as the issue of fire, chemical wastes disposals
among others (Honan & Hassle, 2011).

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There were also risks assessment control tools that were used to provide the remedy to the
identified risks as mentioned above. Some of the risk assessment control tools that were used in
this particular inspection were checklists and active risks managers. The checklist was very
efficient in this audit and it played a very crucial role in identifying the risk as well as making an
appropriate corrective action regarding the risk itself. It’s a form of data collection that involved
comparing the standards on the ground with the required and generally accepted standards and
making the appropriate recommendations regarding the improvements that need to be made. This
method of risk assessment is very efficient thought it has various disadvantages as seen from the
audit that was conducted here. It is very theoretical in nature; it focuses more on situations and
conditions that can be barely achieved by real action.
It was also noted that there were some cases of emergencies that were identified that needed
immediate corrective actions such as the open sockets that needed replacement among others. It
was also noted that certain resources were needed in order of the company to deal with such
emergencies (Schaufeli & Taris, 2014).These resources would play a very crucial role in dealing
with such emergencies as fire and other related issues.
The identified hazards are a very serious issue and have a very high probability of impacting on
the function ability of the company. When the identified hazards are not properly handled and
dealt with there is a threat that could cripple the functions of the entire organization which would
also involve putting into danger the lives of various employees in the company.
There were also certain legislative breaches that were identified. It was noted that the
organization had not installed an appropriate and standard waste management procedure; the
wastes were just being disposed in a random manner and not following the procedures that the

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law requires. It was recommended that the right method of waste disposal is adopted so as to
avoid the effects and dangers that would arise as a result of not managing the wastes properly
(Pouliakas & Theodossiou, 2013).
Recommendations
Following the audit that was conducted the following issues were recommended;
There should be a clear outline of the safety and health responsibilities of each of the
stakeholders and main managers in the company
On the issue of emergency evacuation it was recommended that the exists are fixed at the
appropriate areas so as to avoid future instances of commotion and congestion at the exit areas in
the event of a fire outbreak
In regard to ergonomics, seat and desk arrangements, it was recommended that the company
provide the employees with appropriate and adjustable seats with an adequate room that is
spacious for them to conduct their day to day activities.
Waste management was also another recommendation that was made. It was recommended that
an appropriate waste management procedure is adopted (Mannan, 2012). A procedure that is of
the right standard and one that complies with legal standards.
Generally, below is a list of some of the common and standard practices that were proposed for
adoption by the company;
a) Conducting random but periodic safety inspections
b) Procedures of raising safety concerns
c) Escalation of safety concerns

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d) Hazard identification and analysis procedures
Conclusion
The audit was very significant and it met the purpose it was aimed to. There were certain hazards
that were identified that were a potential source of danger and threat to the company. Relevant
recommendations were proposed on dealing with each of the hazards identified.
Despite the various challenges that were experienced during the audit, it was still a success.
Well, challenges are a common thing in various sectors and they should be faced and dealt with
accordingly (Paltrinieri, Tugnoli, Cozzani, 2015). Finally, it can be concluded that these random
inspections and audits are very important to any organization whatsoever. They help in
identifying a potential hazard and how to deal with the hazard. They therefore ensure a working
environment that is safe for the employees as well as the clients.

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References
Dollard, M. F., & Bakker, A. B. (2010). Psychosocial safety climate as a precursor to conducive
work environments, psychological health problems, and employee engagement. Journal of
Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(3), 579-599.
Dowling, C., & Leech, S. A. (2014). A Big 4 firm's use of information technology to control the
audit process: How an audit support system is changing auditor behavior. Contemporary
Accounting Research, 31(1), 230-252.
Hohnen, P., & Hasle, P. (2011). Making work environment auditable–A ‘critical case’study of
certified occupational health and safety management systems in Denmark. Safety
Science, 49(7), 1022-1029.
Kabir, G., Abubakar, A. I., & El-Nafaty, U. A. (2010). Energy audit and conservation
opportunities for pyroprocessing unit of a typical dry process cement
plant. Energy, 35(3), 1237-1243.
Lees, F. (2012). Lees' Loss prevention in the process industries: Hazard identification,
assessment and control. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Manita, R., & Elommal, N. (2010). The Quality of Audit Process: An Empirical Study with
Audit Committees. International Journal of Business, 15(1).
Mannan, S. (2012). Lees’ Loss Prevention in the Process Industries: Hazard
Identification. Assessment and Control, 1.
McNeil, A. J., Frey, R., & Embrechts, P. (2015). Quantitative Risk Management: Concepts,
Techniques and Tools-revised edition. Princeton university press.

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Messier, Jr, W. F. (2010). Opportunities for task‐level research within the audit
process. International Journal of Auditing, 14(3), 320-328.
Paltrinieri, N., Tugnoli, A., & Cozzani, V. (2015). Hazard identification for innovative LNG
regasification technologies. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 137, 18-28.
Pouliakas, K., & Theodossiou, I. (2013). The economics of health and safety at work: an
interdiciplinary review of the theory and policy. Journal of Economic Surveys, 27(1),
167-208.
Schaufeli, W. B., & Taris, T. W. (2014). A critical review of the Job Demands-Resources Model:
Implications for improving work and health. In Bridging occupational, organizational
and public health (pp. 43-68). Springer, Dordrecht.

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Appendix
The audit process
Audit implementation process

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