SHEQ SERVICES · AUDITS
SHEQ compliance audits
An independent audit of your health and safety system against all the legislation that applies to you. You get every non-compliance ranked by risk, with a clear corrective action for each, so you know exactly what to fix and in what order.
You have a system. Does it hold up?
Having a health and safety file on the shelf isn't the same as being compliant. Procedures go out of date, appointments lapse, training certificates expire and registers stop being filled in. Usually nobody notices until an inspector, a client auditor or an incident brings it to light.
A SHEQ (safety, health, environment and quality) compliance audit is the benchmark test. It's best done once you have a health and safety system in place and want to know how well it really works. It also shows you where to spend next, so money goes to the gaps that carry the most risk.
The BMS audit doesn't stop at listing what's wrong. Every finding comes with a corrective measure, a recommendation and a priority, so the report becomes your action plan. Our audit protocol checks your systems against a detailed legal register.
What's included
- An opening meeting to agree the scope, sites and people involved
- Document review: policies, appointments, risk assessments, registers, training records, incident reports and contractor files
- Physical inspection of the workplace: equipment, emergency routes, signage, housekeeping, PPE, chemicals and electrical safety
- Interviews with management, supervisors, health and safety representatives and employees
- Testing against the OHS Act and all applicable regulations
- Every non-compliance ranked by risk, from critical to minor
- Corrective measures and recommendations for each finding
- A written audit report with a compliance score you can track over time
- A close-out meeting with management
How it works
- Scope. We agree which sites, departments and standards the audit covers.
- Audit day(s). A BMS auditor reviews documents, inspects the workplace and interviews people at every level.
- Report. You receive a report with your compliance score, every finding ranked by risk and a corrective action for each.
- Close-out. We walk management through the results and agree owners and dates.
- Re-audit. We come back, usually after six or twelve months, to measure progress. The score shows whether the business is improving.
Who it's for
- Businesses with an existing health and safety system that want an independent check
- Companies preparing for a client or supplier audit, a tender, or a Department of Employment and Labour inspection
- Sites working towards ISO 45001 that need an internal audit (see ISO 45001)
- Group companies that want the same audit standard across several sites
- Management teams that want proof they're managing their legal exposure
Industries: food and beverage manufacturing · warehousing and logistics · construction · laboratories · engineering · retail
Why it matters legallyThe Acts and regulations behind this service
The OHS Act is designed to prevent incidents. Running an audit and acting on the findings shows that you've taken reasonable steps, which matters for:
- Managing legal exposure at every level: top, middle, line and supervisory management
- Protecting the employer against criminal and civil liability
- Containing losses by finding where they start and putting loss-control systems in place
| Law | Section | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 | Section 8 | Employers must provide and maintain a safe workplace and safe systems of work. |
| Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 | Section 16 | The CEO is accountable for the employer's duties under the Act. |
| Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 | Section 37 | Employers can be held liable for acts or omissions of employees and mandataries, unless they took reasonable steps to prevent them. |
| ISO 45001:2018 | Clause 9.2 | Organisations certified to ISO 45001 must run internal audits at planned intervals. |
What is a SHEQ compliance audit?
A SHEQ compliance audit is an independent check of your safety, health, environment and quality system against the laws and standards that apply to your business. The auditor reviews documents, inspects the workplace and interviews staff, then reports every non-compliance with a risk rating and a corrective action, so you have a clear plan to become compliant.
How often should we have a health and safety audit?
We recommend a full compliance audit at least once a year, with follow-up checks in between if the first audit finds serious gaps. Businesses certified to ISO 45001 must also run internal audits at planned intervals. Audit more often after major changes, such as new premises, new processes or a serious incident.
What's the difference between an audit and a risk assessment?
A risk assessment looks at hazards and asks "what could hurt someone, and how do we control it?" An audit looks at your whole system and asks "are we meeting the law and our own procedures?" The two work together: audits often find that risk assessments are missing or out of date.
Will the audit disrupt our operations?
Very little. Document reviews happen in an office, and the site inspection and interviews are planned around your shifts and production. Most of your team will only spend a few minutes with the auditor. We agree the schedule with you before the audit day.
Do we need a system in place before an audit?
It helps, but it isn't required. The full compliance audit is most useful once you have a system to test. If you're starting from scratch, a gap analysis through our legal compliance service is the better first step. It shows what's missing and builds the system with you.
Get in touch
Test your system before someone else does
Get an independent audit with a clear, ranked action plan.
- Phone064 549 5312
- Emailinfo@bmsholdings.co.za
- AddressThe Colosseum, First Floor, Century Way, Century City, Cape Town, 7441