ACC flags audit changes

ACC is to reduce the number of auditors approved to carry out the safety audit for its WSMP and Partnership programmes in a bid to improve the quality and consistency of audits nationally.

Currently there are about 60 approved auditors on the panel available for employers to choose from. ACC put out a request for proposal for auditing services through the government’s GETS tendering system. Applications closed at the end of October, and ACC expects to notify successful applicants early in 2010.

Keith McLea, ACC general manager insurance, says the last time the auditors were appointed was in 2005, by a similar tender process. The number of auditors selected this time, and their location around the country, is likely to change.

“We are most likely to choose fewer auditors, with a focus on those with better qualifications and experience. We’ll also consider regional issues, and only appoint as many auditors as are needed in a particular area.”

The move to more limited numbers is designed to improve the quality and consistency of audits, which he says can only be achieved if each auditor has the opportunity to do a significant number of audits each year.

“Some auditors only do a few audits a year. I feel that to keep up to date you need to be doing audits regularly.”

McLea acknowledges the move will also contribute in a small way to ACC’s need to cut costs, in that it will be easier to monitor fewer auditors as part of the corporation’s quality assurance processes.

The audit tool is itself under review, with a revised version likely to come into effect by the middle of 2010. The changes have been prompted by input from unions and employers, who McLea says would like the audit to have a weighting scale rather than a simple pass/fail, because some areas covered by the audit are more important than others.

“It’ll be a bit more outcome-focused. You might have a safety management system in place but if you talk to people [on the shop floor], does anyone know about it?”

This story appeared in Safeguard Update newsletter of 30 November.

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