The first step to establishing a successful, sustainable ergonomics process is to uncover actionable improvement opportunities to accomplish your goals and objectives. The goal of the Establishment Audit isn’t necessarily to get a high score. Instead, you can think of it as learning exercise intended to uncover insights on the path from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow.

This is actually the first step to implementing ergonomics as a continuous improvement process that aligns with Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA).

In fact, another variation of PDCA has an added “O” at the beginning of the first PDCA cycle that stands for “Observe the current condition”. And that’s exactly what the Establishment Audit does.

ISO 19011 provides guidance for conducting an audit, which they define as, “A systematic, independent, and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which audit criteria are fulfilled.”

The end result of the Establishment Audit should be clarity and alignment for all stakeholders so that you can all come together to create an Ergonomics Management System (the next step in the Establishment phase) that will define your ergonomics and injury prevention process moving forward.

There are four basic phases to an audit:

1. Audit preparation
2. Audit performance
3. Audit reporting
4. Audit follow-up

1. Audit preparation

The preparation phase is everything that happens between deciding to conduct the audit and when the audit itself begins. This often includes:

Assigning audit roles and responsibilities

• 1st party audit
• 3rd party audit

Determining audit criteria
Clients we help through the Establishment phase generally don’t have an ergonomics management system in place to audit against, so the first step in preparation is determining the audit criteria itself. This is normally up to the client and is dependant on their goals and objectives for the ergonomics and MSD prevention process.

Coordinating logistics

• Determine time, place, number of locations, etc.

2. Audit performance

The performance of the audit is often called the “fieldwork”. This is the on-site portion of the audit and consists of many activities including introductions, review of audit objectives, conducting interviews, gathering documentation, and a closing meeting.

3. Audit reporting

Results of the audit should be communicated in a final report. The report should provide clear data that can be used as an effective management tool to establish the Ergonomics Management System described in the next lesson.

4. Audit follow-up

The ultimate aim of the Establishment Audit is to provide actionable guidance that results in an Ergonomics Management System that is custom tailored to the organization. In addition to a report of audit findings, actionable steps should be recommended that light a clear path forward and form the basis of documented policies, standards, and guidance documents.

Need help with your Establishment Audit? Get in touch and we’ll point you in the right direction.