All about IS 14489 - Third Party Safety Audit

What actually is IS 14489:2018?
IS 14489:2018 is the code of practice on OS&H Audit. The standard establishes The Audit objectives, criteria and practices to be followed & provides guidelines for establishing, planning, conducting and documenting and reporting of audits on occupational safety and health systems at the workplace.

Objectives of IS 14489 - Third-party Safety Audit

The overall objectives of the safety audit were as under:-

  1. to carry out a systematic critical appraisal of all potential hazards involving personal, plant, services and operation methods.
  2. to examine critically the working conditions of the plants which are hazardous in nature and may lead to accidents.
  3. to evaluate work practices and procedures followed in the plant and their effectiveness.
  4. to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing safety and health management system and suggest recommendations for implementation by the management.

Scope of IS 14489 - Third-party Safety Audit

The scope of the safety audit is limited to the safety and health of workers employed in the manufacturing processes and operations and also the safety of the plant and equipment used in the factory.
The Audit is carried out as per the requirement under IS 14489 and the various Legislative requirements such as the Factories Act, 1948 and the state Factories Rules, Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Rules made there under and other applicable Statutes.
“Management Systems” audit is done to assess the management’s involvement and commitment towards promoting safety and health systems at work. Management system audit provides scope of examining and evaluation of safety policies and procedures and their review, hazard communication system, dissemination of information and hazard awareness programme, training and motivation of employees, etc.
Besides management systems audit, technical aspects of plant activities namely, storage and handling of hazardous substances, Emergency Preparedness, process and operational safety review, transportation safety, testing and examination of plant and equipment, housekeeping, waste disposal system, fire prevention and control, etc. would also be audited. 

List of Documents to be checked in IS 14489 Audit


NORMAL RECORD OF GOOD PRACTICES RELATED TO HSE
The rundown of record may shifts from association to association or processing plants yet generally beneath referenced documents/records should be accessible at site. Records under the great practices for consistence with the lawful prerequisites identified with the HSE... 

Methodology of IS 14489 - Third-party Safety Audit

  • The following methodology would be adopted to identify the hazards to health and safety of the employees due to deviations from the applicable statutes, standards, operating procedures and the codes of practices by the audit team.
  • The Audit Questionnaire would be sent to the organisation to provide the necessary replies on receipt of the Purchase Order and the tentative dates for the field visit. Additional Questionnaires would be developed depending on the type of industry
  • The safety Audit would be carried out by a team of 2 to 3 experts, One each from Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical or Mining or Oil & Gas Background depending on the type industry, port, refinery, mining or construction site.
  • A thorough survey of various applicable statutes, codes of practices, standards & other literature would be done prior to the field work in order to collect available safety and health related information applicable to the plants to be audited. Based on the information collected, separate additional checklists would be prepared for different areas. The inspections in the plants would be done with the help of these checklists.
  • An opening meeting would be held with the Management to explain the objective, scope and methodology that would be followed while carrying out the audit. This meeting would help in establishing mutual communication links between audit team & the plant executives and to confirm the resources & facilities needed by the audit team.
  • The various plants and sections would be visited and inspected to assess the need for supplementing or modifying the details obtained through questionnaires and to ascertain the gaps to make suitable recommendations to overcome the same.
  • Discussions would be held with the plant personnel, supervisors and management representatives and workers to derive the information regarding existing measures on safety and health and accident prevention practices in the plant.
  • The Closing meeting to be held with the Management including the Safety Head and other unit Head to apprise them with the draft audit observations and recommendations based on the audit visit and examination of the various documents to ensure the technical feasibility in implementation.

Structure of IS-14489 Safety Audit Report

  1. Foreword
  2. Acknowledgment
  3. Executive Summary
  4. Content
  5. Introduction
  6. About the Industry
  7. Process Description
  8. Audit Questionnaire – Reply, Observations and Recommendations
  9. Annexure
A detailed Recommendations/Action Plan is prepared based on the ‘Audit Findings’. The action plan contains an implementable schemes/ best practices / technologies/ innovative solutions for improving Electrical, Fire, Occupational & Health Safety, Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan measures to be followed by the Industry as per Short Term, Medium Term and Long Term Period.

Download IS 14489 - 1989 PDF copy

IS 14489 Third-party Safety Audit Checklist Form

Self assessment checklist for IS 14489 in google form (> 300 questions). Estimated time of Audit is 8 Hrs if all data is readily available. Autosave is available in form so you may continue the audit on next day without loosing the progress.


IS 14489 - Third Party Safety Audit