What Does This Unit Mean?
This unit is about reviewing the organisation's health and safety management system to determine whether it is:
- Working as intended.
- Achieving its objectives.
- Complying with legal and organisational requirements.
- Making effective use of available resources.
- Delivering value to the organisation.
- Providing a suitable return on the time, money and effort invested.
The unit requires you to look beyond simple compliance and evaluate both the effectiveness and efficiency of the management system.
In simple terms, this unit is asking:
“Is the health and safety management system working properly, and is the organisation getting value from the resources invested in it?”
What Competence Does This Unit Require?
You are expected to demonstrate that you can:
- Review each element of the health and safety management system.
- Assess whether each element is operating as intended.
- Determine the factors necessary for effective performance.
- Establish suitable review frequencies.
- Evaluate efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
- Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for improvement and non-conformities.
- Recommend improvements to management.
- Develop and plan improvement actions.
- Manage the implementation of improvements.
- Maintain review records.
- Assess the management system as a whole rather than individual elements in isolation.
- Understand the principles of management system review, continual improvement and organisational performance.
The emphasis is on systematic review, evaluation, improvement and management review rather than day-to-day health and safety activities.
Suggested Primary Evidence
Health and Safety Management System Review Audit Report and Improvement Action Plan
Maps to ACs 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 3.3 and 3.4
A comprehensive review audit covering all major elements of the organisation's health and safety management system, such as:
- Policy and leadership.
- Risk assessment and risk control.
- Legal compliance.
- Training and competence.
- Communication and consultation.
- Inspections and monitoring.
- Incident management.
- Corrective actions.
- Emergency preparedness.
- Document control.
- Performance measurement and review.
The audit report should include:
- Audit criteria: for each element, a short statement of the factors and features that make that element work effectively, the yardstick the audit judges against. (ACs 1.2, 2.2, 3.3)
- Analysis of each management system element. (1.1, 2.1)
- Assessment of effectiveness and efficiency of each process. (1.2, 2.2 applied)
- Assessment of cost-effectiveness. (2.4, 3.4)
- A review schedule stating how often each element, and the system as a whole, is reviewed. (1.3, 2.3)
- Strengths and good practices.
- Opportunities for Improvement (OFIs).
- Non-Conformities (NCRs).
- Recommendations for improvement. (2.5)
- An implementation action plan with responsibilities and timescales. (1.5, 2.6)
- Management review conclusions.
- Controlled records of findings and actions. (1.6, 2.7)
Required accompanying evidence 1: proof the advice reached management
Maps to AC 1.4
A management review minute, board or management presentation record, or circulation record with acknowledgement, showing the audit findings and recommended improvements were presented to directors and the relevant levels of management.
Required accompanying evidence 2: a short written commentary or recorded professional discussion
Maps to ACs 3.1, 3.2, 3.5 and 3.6
A brief account (as a guide, two to three pages, or a recorded discussion with your assessor) in which you:
- Describe your organisation's health and safety management system: its main parts and how they fit together. (3.2)
- Explain the role that review and audit play within it: why the system is reviewed and what the reviews feed into. (3.1)
- Explain how the organisation's health and safety records are managed, covering both electronic and paper systems (how records are created, controlled, retained and found when needed) and how the system takes account of the health and safety needs of people beyond your own employees, such as contractors, visitors and neighbours. (3.5)
- Explain the outside factors that shape how the review system works: the legal requirements it must satisfy, the industry good practice it draws on, and the quality standards its documentation must meet. (3.6)
Important Note for Learners
The competence requirements outlined above describe the practical workplace activities, systems, processes and records that may be used to demonstrate competence against this unit.
As this is a competency-based qualification, learners are expected to demonstrate that they can apply their health and safety knowledge and skills within their own workplace or working environment.
In addition to the competence-based assessment criteria, this unit also contains a number of knowledge-based assessment criteria. These are typically assessed through:
- Written responses
- Professional discussions with the assessor
- Assessor questioning
In most cases, the knowledge-based assessment criteria relate directly to the same workplace activities, systems and processes described above. Learners will therefore often find that the workplace evidence gathered to demonstrate competence also helps them prepare for and satisfy the knowledge assessment requirements.