audits
There are various reasons to undertake audits of temporary traffic management. These are:
- For the purposes of pure compliance (contractual or Health and Safety obligations)
- For the purposes of improving the individual TC or STMS on-site
- Completed by the road owners to maintain a standard on their roading networks
The advantages of an external auditor of the temporary traffic management on the work site are they have no preconceived ideas of the site, the TC/STMS, the contractor and basically no knowledge of the project. This brings a new set of eyes onto the site who may see things missed by others due to being there every day.
If you are a client (principal or PCBU) there is a need to audit suppliers, especially when it comes to an item like temporary traffic management which is all about safety. These audits are generally a true compliance audit with faults identified and passed to the STMS/TC for correction.
We can offer these and the audit will include:
- A copy of the audit itself
- A check of all paperwork on the site relevant to temporary traffic management
- Photographs of the site
- The auditor will discuss findings on site with the STMS/TC
- A list of faults to be remedied (these will be provided to the STMS/TC at the time, and the client afterwards)
- A brief report of the audit including all of the above information and any potential future suggestions for improvement at the work site
The focus of the second type of audit we offer is strongly focused on the training aspect as a result of the audit.
We can offer these and the audit will include:
- A copy of the audit itself
- A check of all paperwork on the site relevant to temporary traffic management
- Photographs of the site
- The auditor will discuss findings on site with the STMS/TC
- Time will be spent with the TC/STMS to ensure they are aware of improvements that can be made. The aim here is for the TC/STMS to be helped to improve and try and reduce any negativity that can come from being audited.
- A list of faults to be remedied (these will be provided to the STMS/TC at the time, and the client afterwards)
- A brief report of the audit including all of the above information and any potential future suggestions regarding the site
- The report will also detail potential areas of training that the TC/STMS may need in the future
For both audits, the feedback will be honest feedback on the site, the company and the STMS/TC. It may not be what people want to hear, but the aim is for improvement.
Obviously, the training audit will take longer but the benefits will be worth it in the future.
Dean has completed many audits whilst he worked at Opus on the North Canterbury State Highway Network Management contract. Additionally, he audited for other projects within Opus that were not State Highway related. Then when at Men at Work he also carried out many audits, more with an eye on training and improvement than he had when at Opus. Dean is very aware that you need to let the TC/STMS explain why they have set the site the way they have before you start with any improvements.
Dean also has attended the Transit “Road Safety Engineering Workshop” which covered off crash reduction studies and road safety auditing. This brings an experienced and qualified eye to auditing the temporary traffic management on worksites.
There are many ways to do an audit, however, we (Hurford Traffic Management) believe that they are an opportunity for improvement, regardless of what the reason was for doing them to start with.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss the auditing process further, and the services we can offer you. We are more than happy to assist you with auditing process yourself so you can complete them yourself in the future.