Occupational Health and Safety Auditing Training Course

Course Introduction

Occupational health and safety auditing provides a structured approach for evaluating whether workplace safety systems, procedures, controls, and practices are effectively designed, implemented, maintained, and continuously improved. This course develops the practical capability to assess occupational risks, verify compliance, examine control effectiveness, and identify opportunities for stronger workplace health and safety performance across diverse organisational environments.

The Occupational Health and Safety Auditing Training Course focuses on the complete audit lifecycle, from understanding organisational hazards and establishing audit criteria to developing audit plans, collecting reliable evidence, testing controls, documenting findings, and communicating actionable recommendations. Participants will learn how to apply systematic, risk-based audit techniques to workplace environments, safety management systems, operational processes, contractors, and high-risk activities.

Effective safety auditing requires more than checking whether policies exist. Auditors must determine whether controls operate consistently in practice, whether employees understand their responsibilities, whether hazards are adequately identified, and whether management responds effectively to incidents and emerging risks. The course therefore integrates governance, risk assessment, compliance, operational controls, incident investigation, safety culture, performance measurement, and continuous improvement into a comprehensive auditing methodology.

Participants will explore how occupational health and safety audits can provide management with objective assurance while supporting prevention, resilience, regulatory compliance, and improved organisational performance. Practical attention will be given to audit interviews, workplace observations, documentation reviews, sampling, evidence evaluation, root cause analysis, corrective action assessment, and the preparation of clear audit reports that distinguish immediate control weaknesses from deeper systemic issues.

The programme also addresses emerging workplace risks associated with digitalisation, automation, artificial intelligence, remote and hybrid working, psychosocial hazards, climate-related conditions, contractor ecosystems, changing workforce arrangements, and increasingly complex operational environments. These developments require auditors to expand traditional safety auditing approaches and consider how new technologies, work models, environmental conditions, and organisational behaviours can influence occupational health and safety risk.

By completing this course, participants will be better equipped to conduct credible, evidence-based occupational health and safety audits and translate audit results into practical improvements. The programme is designed to strengthen professional judgement, analytical capability, audit documentation, stakeholder communication, and follow-up discipline so that safety assurance contributes meaningfully to healthier workplaces, stronger controls, and sustainable organisational performance.

Duration

10 days

Who Should Attend

• Internal auditors responsible for reviewing occupational health and safety management systems and workplace controls.

• Occupational health and safety professionals involved in assurance, compliance reviews, inspections, and safety improvement programmes.

• Health, safety, environment, and quality managers responsible for monitoring organisational safety performance.

• Risk managers evaluating workplace hazards, operational risks, and effectiveness of preventive controls.

• Compliance professionals responsible for occupational health and safety regulatory requirements and assurance activities.

• External auditors and consultants conducting occupational health and safety management system assessments.

• Quality assurance professionals integrating health and safety requirements into broader organisational assurance programmes.

• Operations managers responsible for maintaining safe processes, facilities, equipment, and working environments.

• Human resources professionals dealing with workforce wellbeing, occupational health, employee protection, and workplace risk.

• Contractor and supplier managers responsible for assessing third-party health and safety performance and compliance.

• Safety committee members participating in workplace risk oversight, incident review, and continuous improvement.

• Investigators involved in workplace incident reviews, corrective action assessment, and root cause analysis.

• Governance and assurance professionals seeking stronger understanding of safety-related risk and control effectiveness.

• Managers and supervisors responsible for implementing workplace safety controls and responding to identified deficiencies.

Course Objectives

• Develop a comprehensive understanding of occupational health and safety auditing principles, methodologies, governance expectations, and the role of independent assurance in strengthening workplace risk management.

• Apply risk-based audit planning techniques to identify significant occupational hazards, prioritise audit areas, establish appropriate scope, and develop audit procedures aligned with organisational risk exposure.

• Evaluate the design and operating effectiveness of occupational health and safety policies, procedures, management systems, responsibilities, reporting arrangements, and operational controls.

• Conduct systematic workplace observations, interviews, document reviews, inspections, sampling procedures, and evidence evaluations to establish reliable and defensible audit conclusions.

• Assess organisational processes for hazard identification, risk assessment, risk treatment, control implementation, monitoring, and reassessment across routine and non-routine workplace activities.

• Examine incident, accident, near-miss, occupational illness, and safety-event management processes to determine whether investigations identify meaningful causes and lead to effective corrective actions.

• Evaluate contractor, supplier, visitor, temporary worker, and third-party safety controls to determine whether external workforce risks are appropriately governed, monitored, and assured.

• Analyse occupational health and safety performance indicators, leading and lagging measures, trends, recurring deficiencies, and data-quality issues to identify areas requiring management attention.

• Apply root cause analysis and professional judgement when assessing audit findings, distinguishing immediate failures from underlying systemic weaknesses, behavioural issues, and governance deficiencies.

• Prepare clear, evidence-based audit findings and recommendations that communicate risk significance, control weaknesses, root causes, management implications, and practical opportunities for sustainable improvement.

• Strengthen audit follow-up processes by assessing corrective action plans, verifying implementation, evaluating residual risk, and determining whether remediation has achieved the intended safety outcomes.

• Address emerging occupational health and safety risks associated with technology, automation, artificial intelligence, climate conditions, psychosocial hazards, remote work, changing employment models, and complex supply chains.

Comprehensive Course Outline

Module 1: Foundations of Occupational Health and Safety Auditing

• Principles, purpose, scope, objectives, benefits, and professional responsibilities associated with occupational health and safety auditing.

• The relationship between workplace hazards, occupational risk management, internal controls, compliance assurance, and organisational performance.

• Roles of internal auditors, safety professionals, management, supervisors, workers, regulators, and other stakeholders within safety assurance activities.

• Audit independence, objectivity, professional judgement, ethical conduct, confidentiality, competence, and quality considerations in safety auditing.

Module 2: Occupational Health and Safety Governance and Management Systems

• Governance structures, safety responsibilities, accountability mechanisms, policies, committees, management oversight, and organisational safety leadership.

• Occupational health and safety management system components, documented processes, responsibilities, objectives, implementation arrangements, and continual improvement.

• Management commitment, worker participation, consultation, communication, safety culture, and behavioural factors influencing control effectiveness.

• Audit criteria, management-system requirements, organisational standards, regulatory expectations, and procedures for establishing an appropriate audit framework.

Module 3: Occupational Health and Safety Risk Assessment and Audit Planning

• Hazard identification, risk assessment, risk prioritisation, control evaluation, and development of risk-based occupational safety audit priorities.

• Audit universe development, engagement scoping, objectives, criteria, resources, timelines, sampling approaches, and preparation of detailed audit programmes.

• Assessment of high-risk activities, critical processes, vulnerable worker groups, locations, equipment, and operational conditions when determining audit scope.

• Preliminary information gathering, risk profiling, stakeholder engagement, audit notifications, and development of effective audit planning documentation.

Module 4: Workplace Hazard Identification and Control Auditing

• Auditing systems for identifying physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, mechanical, electrical, and environmental workplace hazards.

• Evaluation of the hierarchy of controls, including elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative measures, and personal protective equipment.

• Workplace inspections, observations, hazard registers, control verification, unsafe-condition assessment, and identification of recurring safety deficiencies.

• Auditing non-routine work, maintenance activities, emergency tasks, operational changes, and unusual workplace conditions that may create additional exposure.

Module 5: Occupational Health, Industrial Hygiene and Worker Wellbeing

• Auditing occupational health programmes covering exposure monitoring, health surveillance, fitness requirements, workplace medical controls, and employee wellbeing arrangements.

• Assessment of industrial hygiene controls for noise, dust, chemicals, radiation, temperature, vibration, biological agents, and other occupational exposures.

• Ergonomic risk assessment, manual handling, workstation design, repetitive activities, fatigue management, and prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

• Psychosocial health risks, workplace stress, harassment, workload, violence, burnout, fatigue, and organisational controls supporting worker mental wellbeing.

Module 6: Operational Safety and High-Risk Activity Auditing

• Auditing machinery safety, equipment guarding, lockout and isolation procedures, maintenance controls, and safe operating practices.

• Evaluation of electrical safety, working at height, confined spaces, lifting operations, hot work, excavation, and other high-risk activities.

• Permit-to-work systems, job safety analysis, method statements, competency requirements, supervision, and control verification for hazardous work.

• Emergency preparedness, operational discipline, safety-critical controls, and assurance approaches for activities where control failure could result in severe consequences.

Module 7: Personal Protective Equipment and Safety Control Effectiveness

• PPE selection, suitability, procurement, issue, inspection, maintenance, replacement, storage, and worker compliance auditing.

• Evaluation of whether personal protective equipment appropriately complements higher-level hazard controls and addresses identified workplace exposures.

• Worker training, competency, fit testing, usage practices, behavioural compliance, and supervision of PPE requirements across operational environments.

• Audit testing of PPE programmes through records, workplace observations, employee interviews, exception analysis, and verification of corrective actions.

Module 8: Incident, Accident and Near-Miss Auditing

• Auditing incident reporting, notification, classification, investigation, documentation, escalation, and management response processes.

• Assessment of accident and near-miss investigation methodologies, evidence quality, causal analysis, corrective actions, and lessons-learned processes.

• Root cause analysis techniques for distinguishing immediate causes, contributing factors, systemic weaknesses, and management-control deficiencies.

• Trend analysis of incidents, recurring events, high-potential near misses, occupational injuries, and corrective action effectiveness to identify systemic risk.

Module 9: Contractor, Supplier and Third-Party Safety Auditing

• Contractor prequalification, safety due diligence, competency verification, onboarding, induction, contractual requirements, and ongoing performance monitoring.

• Auditing third-party compliance with workplace safety procedures, permits, training requirements, supervision arrangements, and critical operational controls.

• Evaluation of contractor incident reporting, safety performance indicators, corrective actions, coordination responsibilities, and management oversight.

• Emerging third-party risks involving labour providers, gig workers, outsourced operations, complex supply chains, and fragmented responsibility for workplace safety.

Module 10: Safety Training, Competency and Workforce Controls

• Auditing safety training needs analysis, induction, refresher training, competency assessment, certification, and role-specific safety learning programmes.

• Evaluation of worker qualifications, licences, authorisations, supervision, competence records, and controls for safety-critical positions.

• Assessment of safety communication, toolbox meetings, worker consultation, awareness programmes, signage, instructions, and multilingual communication requirements.

• Auditing workforce changes, temporary employees, inexperienced workers, ageing workforces, shift arrangements, fatigue exposure, and competency-related safety risks.

Module 11: Occupational Health and Safety Compliance Auditing

• Regulatory compliance assessment, legal registers, licence requirements, statutory inspections, reporting obligations, and monitoring of regulatory changes.

• Techniques for translating applicable occupational health and safety requirements into audit criteria, control objectives, and practical testing procedures.

• Evaluation of compliance evidence, regulatory correspondence, inspection outcomes, notices, enforcement actions, and management responses to identified obligations.

• Auditing compliance management processes to determine whether responsibilities, monitoring arrangements, escalation procedures, and remediation mechanisms remain effective.

Module 12: Safety Data Analytics, Monitoring and Performance Assurance

• Occupational health and safety data sources, data quality, incident statistics, inspection results, exposure measurements, training records, and corrective action information.

• Leading and lagging indicators, trend analysis, exception testing, recurring-deficiency analysis, and performance dashboards for safety assurance.

• Use of data analytics to identify unusual patterns, control failures, high-risk locations, repeated incidents, training gaps, and emerging occupational risk.

• Continuous monitoring concepts, automated safety information, digital reporting platforms, and technology-enabled approaches to strengthening safety assurance.

Module 13: Safety Culture, Behaviour and Organisational Risk

• Auditing safety culture through leadership behaviour, worker engagement, reporting practices, accountability, communication, and organisational attitudes toward risk.

• Behavioural safety considerations, human factors, procedural compliance, decision-making pressures, incentives, workload, and operational trade-offs.

• Assessment of speak-up mechanisms, psychological safety, near-miss reporting, retaliation risks, and barriers that may prevent employees from raising concerns.

• Integrating safety culture observations with control testing, incident trends, interviews, and governance evidence to develop balanced audit conclusions.

Module 14: Emerging Occupational Health and Safety Risks

• Artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, connected equipment, human-machine interaction, and new safety risks arising from technology-enabled workplaces.

• Climate-related occupational risks, extreme heat, environmental changes, emergency conditions, and adaptation controls affecting worker health and operational resilience.

• Remote and hybrid work, digital monitoring, psychosocial risks, work-life boundaries, isolation, ergonomic exposure, and changing workforce arrangements.

• Emerging risks from advanced manufacturing, platform work, new materials, evolving employment models, supply-chain disruption, and rapidly changing operational environments.

Module 15: Occupational Health and Safety Audit Reporting and Corrective Action

• Developing evidence-based audit findings that clearly communicate criteria, condition, cause, consequence, risk significance, and supporting evidence.

• Writing practical recommendations and corrective action plans that address root causes, assign accountability, establish measurable actions, and support sustainable risk reduction.

• Communicating significant safety issues to management, boards, safety committees, operational leaders, and other stakeholders using clear and proportionate reporting.

• Follow-up auditing, remediation verification, residual-risk assessment, overdue-action escalation, and evaluation of whether corrective measures have produced effective results.

Module 16: Advanced Occupational Health and Safety Assurance Strategy

• Integrating occupational health and safety auditing with enterprise risk management, internal audit strategy, operational assurance, compliance, and broader governance frameworks.

• Developing risk-based annual safety audit plans using incident trends, critical controls, organisational change, emerging risks, regulatory developments, and assurance history.

• Advanced assurance approaches involving continuous auditing, technology-enabled inspections, analytics, integrated assurance, and coordination with other control-monitoring functions.

• Building a sustainable occupational health and safety assurance strategy focused on resilience, prevention, worker wellbeing, organisational learning, and continual control improvement.

Training Approach

This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.

Tailor-Made Course

This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com Tel: +254 721 331 808

Training Venue 

The training will be held at our Upskill Training Centre. We also offer training for a group (at a discount of 10% to 50%) at requested location all over the world. The Onsite course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, buffet lunch, airport transfers, Upskill gift package, and guided tour.

Visa application, travel expenses, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant

Certification

Participants will be issued with Upskill certificate upon completion of this course.

Airport Pickup and Accommodation

Airport pickup and accommodation is arranged upon request. For booking contact our Training Coordinator through Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com, +254 721 331 808

Terms of Payment:

Unless otherwise agreed between the two parties’ payment of the course fee should be done 3 working days before commencement of the training so as to enable us to prepare better.