Health and Safety Management System Audit Reliability Pilot Project

Abstract

This pilot study assessed occupational health and safety (OHS) management system audit finding reliability using a modified test–retest method. Two industrial hygienists with similar training and education conducted four, 1-day management system audits in four dissimilar organizational environments. The researchers examined four auditable sections (employee participation, training, controls, and communications) contained in a publicly available OHS management system assessment instrument. At each site, 102 auditable clauses were evaluated using a progressive 6-point scale. The team examined both the consistency of and agreement between the scores of the two auditors. Consistency was evaluated by calculating the Pearson r correlations for the two auditors' scores at each site and for each section within each site. Pearson correlations comparing overall scores for each site were all very low, ranging from 0.206 to 0.543. Training and communication system assessments correlated the highest, whereas employee ...