Health and safety audits are vital to ascertain if the standards are maintained and functioning well to prevent accidents. It also motivates organization to continuously work with safety issues in mind in enhancing workplace safety and improve compliance with the laws of the land as well as ILO standards.
Every occupier is required to undertake a health and safety audit of the workplace at least once in every period of 12 months by a health and safety advisor registered for that purpose by the Director of Occupational health and safety as per Section 10 of Legal Notice No 31 of 2004. The main legislation, which is relevant to this subject, is the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2007 and its subsidiary legislations.
The outcome of the audit are documented and a copy of the report submitted to the Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety Services as required under Sec. 13 (1) of Legal Notice No. 31 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2007 of the laws of Kenya.
Fire safety is important and necessary in the workplace in order to prevent and protect against the destruction caused by fire. Fire safety reduces the risk of injury and property damage that fires can cause. Developing and implementing fire safety protocols in the workplace is not only required by law but it is crucial to everyone’s safety that may be within the premise during a fire emergency.
Sec. 36 of the Fire Risk Reduction Rules, 2007 requires that every workplace conducts a fire safety audit / risk assessment and submits a copy of the same to the DOSHS. Fire safety audits are conducted by DOSHS approved fire safety auditors.
The fire safety risk assessment will assess the fire hazards in different sections of the workplace, adequacy of the firefighting equipment available in the premises, measures in place for control of fire and the emergency response procedures in place in the event of fire emergency. The fire safety audit will also give recommendations as appropriate.
Sections 6 (3) of The Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2007 requires that an occupier of a workplace to carry out appropriate risk assessment in relation to the safety and health of persons employed and, on the basis of these results, adopt preventive and protective measures to ensure that under all conditions of their intended use, all chemicals, machinery, equipment, tools and processes under the control of the occupiers are safe and without risks to health and comply with the requirement of safety and health provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2007.
A noise survey is a systematic evaluation of the noise levels in a particular environment. This type of survey is often conducted in workplaces, industrial settings, construction sites, or residential areas to assess and manage the potential impact of noise on people's health and well-being.
Occupational hygiene is the discipline of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling workplace conditions that may cause illness or impaired health among workers.
