Six citations were issued by OSHA against Cirque Du Soleil, and three against MGM Grand, for the accidental death of an acrobat during a performance of “Ka” on June 29. The performer fell 94 feet to the floor after the wire rope which supported her was severed. Both Cirque Du Soleil and MGM Grand plan to appeal the citations.

The citations against Cirque Du Soleil include findings that they failed to “provide proper training for the ‘Ka’ battle Spearman Employee involved in the accident in the use of equipment and tasks used in the ‘Ka’ Show battle scene,” and that they removed “equipment from a fatality site before Nevada OSHA authorized the dismantling and removal of the equipment.”

Additionally, both Cirque Du Soleil and MGM Grand were cited for not properly assessing the workplace for hazards.

Incidents like these should act as a wakeup call to any employers who have not recently had their facility audited by a third party safety auditing firm. The nuances of certain OSHA regulations can be difficult to understand, and the expertise of an outside agency can often clear up serious issues which were not accounted for.

If you have not recently had your facility audited, or if you are concerned there might be hazards which are not properly accounted for, please contact us so that we can help you analyze your facility. If you have anything to add about the Cirque Du Soleil fines or about the importance of a third party audit, please leave a comment.

When potential clients reach out to us to discuss a third party safety audit, the conversation almost always comes to the question of “need.” The clients have either had an incident at their workplace and feel they have adequately resolved the issue, and thus are unsure if they “need” an audit, or they were unable to resolve the issue and understand they need help, but are unsure if an audit is the appropriate step, or they have not had any incidents yet, but are concerned for the future.

And in each of these situations, the answer is usually that yes, you do need a third party safety audit. If you are in a situation where there has been a workplace incident relating to a safety practice, your first step should always be to consult a professional firm that specializes in occupational health and safety. Even if you think you have the situation under control, you want to be able to prove that you did everything in your power to remedy the situation correctly.

If you are simply concerned about the safety of your workplace, you need to think about why you were concerned in the first place. Most people who reach out to a third party safety auditing firm do not do so for no reason. And if there is something at your facility which you feel needs to be looked over, it is always a good idea to do so.

If you have any questions about third party safety audits and whether or not your company needs one, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about the importance of third party safety audits, please leave a comment.

If you own a business, then one of your key concerns which you probably never really think about is workplace safety and OSHA compliance. Most business owners have a team in place to worry about these things, allowing the owners to worry about bigger picture issues. But one bad oversight on the part of a safety team could lead to a company going out of business.

So in order to help them sleep at night, many business owners hire a professional firm to perform a third party safety audit. The auditors assigned for this task will complete a full, wall-to-wall inspection of the facility, much in the same way as OSHA does. These auditors are trained to review every aspect of a facility to find any and all potential hazards and violations.  It can often be a great benefit to have a second set of eyes review your safety procedures and to examine all aspects of your facility.

After the facility is reviewed, most auditors will discuss the issues they found with you and your audit team. This discussion should include what issues were found, what the current procedures are, and what the guidelines are for the procedures which should be instituted. This allows a company to improve and remain fully compliant with OSHA and other regulatory bodies.

If you have any questions about how a third party safety audit might benefit you, or if you would like to schedule an audit, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about third party safety audits, please leave a comment.

Any properly run business has a system in place for ensuring OSHA compliance and overall workplace safety. Some companies utilize a Safety and Health Management System, while others have an in-house process which works best for them. Whatever the look of the system, at it’s core is a desire to run an efficient but safe company which adheres to all OSHA regulations. And while this concept might seem extremely basic, it is incredibly difficult for companies to actually adhere to. Some of the problem stems from a lack of truly understanding the standards, and some of it stems from not keeping up to date when standards change. Either way, it is important to do all that you can to avoid being cited for easily avoidable and correctable noncompliance.

This is where a third party safety audit is beneficial to any business owner. A qualified and well seasoned auditor, who works for a qualified firm with proper resources, is trained to do one thing, and one thing only – learn OSHA. Safety auditors make it their job to study these regulations in and out, so that they can view your facility through the same prism an OSHA auditor would. In addition, any good auditor can help you streamline your process while mitigating safety risks.

Any way you look at it, a third party safety audit protects your business, ensures your employees are safe, and protects you from unneeded headaches should OSHA ever come knocking. If you have any questions about how a third party safety audit works or how to schedule one, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about how third party safety audits help businesses, please leave a comment.

There are a number of benefits to an organization which hires a professional safety firm to audit its facility. These benefits include granting a company access to years of experience in the safety field, having a second set of eyes review safety paperwork to make sure there is not a missed opportunity to improve efficiency and efficacy, and receiving an action plan which can be used to bring an organization up to code if there are any deficiencies.

Experience is one of the most important factors to consider when hiring a third party safety auditor. Many of OSHA’s policies have room for interpretation; if you hire an inexperienced auditor, he or she may never have been in that situation before, meaning they are not able to draw from previous experiences when making decisions. It is also important to consider the relevance of related experience, to make sure the auditing firm has experience in your line of work.

As with anything in life, it is always a good idea to have someone review your safety plans to ensure they are up to code, and that nothing has changed unbeknownst to the company’s management team. Should there be any issues with the current safety plan in place, a professional auditor will develop an action plan to help bring the company back up to code.

If you have any questions about third party safety audits, please contact us. And if you have anything to add about third party safety audits, leave a comment.

At least annually, all companies should have a third party safety audit. These audits are important to ensure compliance with all OSHA standards and to help guarantee conformity with the specific requirements of any additional certifications the company has received. Third party safety audits are also a great way for a new company to establish a safety program or for companies going through changes to ensure their safety program remains compliant. And the costs of these audits are negligible when compared to the costs associated with an OSHA audit or on the job injuries because proper policies are not in place.

A good third party audit will help you ensure compliance with all aspects of safety regulations. Auditors who only focus on certain areas of your business may be great for specific projects, but are not going to help you ensure companywide compliance, and should not be used for annual auditing purposes. Instead, it is important to find an auditing firm that will conduct a true “wall to wall” inspection of the entire facility. The auditing team should be able to review your current plan and compare it with your facility to see what is missing, and where you are noncompliant. An audit team should also review all accident investigations to ensure there are no undocumented hazards.

For more information on annual third party safety audits and how they can help your business stay compliant, please contact us. If you have anything to add about the benefits of annual third party safety audits, please leave a comment.

Many business owners do not understand why they need annual safety audits, and while not necessarily a requirement by OSHA for every business in every industry, most every business is regulated by a standard which has an annual third party safety audit component. Further, as per Docket No. W-100, voluntary third party safety audits can help prevent citations and fines if violations are found but are being corrected after discovery during a recent audit. Finally, the only way to ensure your business is not in violation of any OSHA standards is to have a professional firm with experience in OSHA regulations review your Safety and Health Management System, as well as your work cite.

When done properly, third party safety audits review every aspect of your business operations. Auditors will review the Safety and Health Management System to ensure your current processes are up to code and to see what additional processes need to be inserted. Based upon your industry, auditors will then compare your daily business practices with OSHA’s requirements, to ensure your employees are following all safety protocol. Auditors will also review training procedures for new hires and annual training for staff members. Finally, the team will do a wall to wall inspection of your facility, as a way to ensure there are no additional hazards which need correcting.

After this process is complete, a good auditor will give you the results of your audit, including where there are deficiencies, and work with you to develop a plan going forward of how you will correct your problems. If these are not the services you are receiving from your current auditing firm, or if you would like to learn more about the benefits of annual third party safety audits, then please contact us. And if you would like to add anything about the benefits of annual safety audits, please leave a comment.

Safety audits allow you to protect your business from potential safety hazards. A good audit will include a wall to wall inspection covering your machines, tools, personnel, training, systems, accidents, hazards, and processes to ensure you know all of your hazards and are following all relevant OSHA standards. They provide a secondary defense against OSHA, helping your safety team to overcome audit difficulties.

Without annual safety audits, you do not have an outside set of eyes verifying the accuracy of your Safety and Health Management System and the procedures you have in place to mitigate risk from worksite hazards. You also do not have anyone making sure you remain up to code as standards change year to year. Without this secondary verification, you are placing an additional burden on your safety team. No matter how qualified your safety experts are, it is always important to have someone else review their work; someone who is impartial and removed from the situation.

And if that isn’t enough, it is also a requirement of OSHA. OSHA requires a third party safety audit annually. Without the annual audits, you will be in violation of OSHA should they audit you. OSHA audits are hard enough, there is no reason to give them a free citation.

Should you have any questions about safety audits, their importance, and how they can benefit you, please feel free to contact us. If you have any advice on what to look for in a third party safety audit company, leave a comment.

Third party safety audits, which we have discussed before, are a vital part of your safety plan. Not only do they meet the requirements for third party auditing set forth by OSHA in a number of their standards, they also help you ensure you are operationally sound. Safety is fluid; what was up to code last month may no longer be acceptable. Because of this, it is easy to maintain your safety plan, which was properly set up, but find yourself in trouble simply because of policy changes.

Regular safety audits will help you to ensure you are running an effective safety program in your business. Trained auditors can ensure that your policies  and procedures conform to OSHA standards, and that they are the most cost effective way to ensure safety in any given situation. They will begin by reviewing your known hazards, then evaluate your current plan to handle them. After this, they will examine your place of business and worksite practices, to make sure there are no additional hazards which need to be addressed. Auditors will also examine all signage, to make certain it meets minimum requirements for acceptability.

If there are any issues in these basic areas of your business, your auditors will help you come up with a plan to correct them. From there, they will examine your safety plan further, picking apart your processes in the same way an OSHA auditor would. If you have not had an audit recently, or if you are afraid some of the recent OSHA changes affect you, please contact us, so that we can help. If you have anything to add about third party safety audits, please leave a comment.