What is a Due Diligence Program

oo

Doing due diligence is, at its core, doing the right thing.

For organizations, workplaces and job sites, due diligence for safety means exercising caution and precaution. Let’s look at the legal and operational sides of due diligence for workplace safety.

What is Due Diligence?

In the general sense, due diligence is an investigation. An investigation or type of audit, usually done in consideration of a potential investment. In business mergers and acquisitions, due diligence is a legal process where potential investors are given an opportunity to research financial records. Before entering into a financial agreement with another party, it makes sense to dig in to the financial obligations of the investment under consideration.

A similar case can be made for due diligence in workplace safety.

Safety Due Diligence

The safety risks and safety record of a business are an important consideration in not only acquiring a new business, but important to the continued operation of an existing business.

It is equally important to perform a comprehensive appraisal of the safety record and potential safety risks of a business. The comprehensive appraisal may be required by legal compliance requirements or undertaken by the company’s internal audit branch to review safety policy compliance.

As it makes sense to perform due diligence in order to fully understand any financial risks and legal liabilities in operating a business, it is just as important to dig in, and discover any potential safety liabilities.

Safety Precautions

A safety due diligence effort is part of a larger scope of effort to ensure workplace safety.

An employer should take all reasonable precautions to assess injury risks, and follow through on all safety risk mitigation steps.

Precaution means to understand in advance and a safety due diligence is essential to understand potential health and safety risks and properly plan for their mitigation. As it would be difficult to manage the finances of a business without deep knowledge of the fiscal liabilities; the same concept applies to underlying safety risks.

To properly operate a health and safety program, management must know where there are safety risks and compliance gaps within the business operation.

Safety and Business Operations

With certain business operations, compliance with safety regulations is critical to staying in business.

With any business, management must have the details on any safety risks or compliance gaps within its operation. Without this detailed understanding, the business is at risk for injuries to personnel.

Potential injury to personnel, meaning: Employees, vendors, and others creates a liability. It is important to conduct and effective safety due diligence efforts to uncover any safety issues.

Legal Implications

Safety due diligence is an essential component in managing workplace risk and often required to comply with legal requirements.

In the event of an adverse safety event, the business will be required to demonstrate all reasonable precautions were taken to mitigate safety risks. A safety due diligence effort starts with the requirements of the company’s Health and Safety policy.

Often the diligence effort will focus on training to make sure supervisors and employees have the proper safety awareness and instruction. The safety due diligence effort is necessary to uncover any actual or potential safety gaps. It is an investigation to ensure the procedures and safety controls required by policy are in effectively in control.

How ACT Can Help

Advanced Consulting & Training offers a due diligence program as well as courses and specialized consulting for due diligence.

Contact us today to find out more about how a due diligence program can help your organization.