Misunderstood and Undervalued? Health and Safety from an Internal Audit Perspective
How can charities help? There are some charities whose mandate is to give ex-offenders a second chance. But many other charities can do their part by taking them on as employees or even as unpaid volunteers. A charity can give an ex-offender work experience and be the first link in the employment chain, and a positive reference provided by that charity could provide the opportunity for their next employer to take that leap of faith. More than that, if you invest time with ex-offenders and help them to believe in themselves, you may find them to be more hard working and determined than any other member of staff. After all they have more to prove and you’re giving them the incentive to do it… But what about the risk? Putting faith in anyone can present a risk, regardless of whether they’re an ex-offender or not. By carrying out risk assessments and putting a robust safeguarding policy in place you can ensure your charity is risk adverse and may prevent certain problems from occurring. If you need any advice about making sure you have an adequate safeguarding policy, or on any aspect of charity or not-for-profit insurance, please get in touch with one of Scrutton Bland’s charity executives who have extensive experience and knowledge of this sector. Do you talk about fraud? Here are 10 questions all charity trustees & managers should ask Do we: Know about our responsibility to protect funds? Have a fraud, bribery and corruption policy? Understand our financial systems and the data we hold? Have regular and frank conversations about fraud? Take appropriate steps to know our staff, donors and partners? Regularly review and test our financial safeguards? Promote fraud awareness and understanding? Encourage staff and volunteers to raise concerns? Have a plan to respond to fraud? Know who to tell if a fraud is discovered? Scrutton Bland supported Charity Fraud Awareness Week 2018
Often the butt of office humour, Health and Safety is not a topic which many people rush to discuss. Frequently, there is a misconception that it is a business prevention tool used to make life difficult for businesses and organisations, which can mean that Health and Safety and the people who are responsible for it are sometimes given a bad press. However, according to Carl Bullen, Senior Risk and Assurance Auditor, with the right leadership and a pro-active approach, organisations of all kinds can positively embrace Health and Safety as a simple but effective business tool. The Internal Audit team at Scrutton Bland have completed several Health and Safety audit assignments over past 12 months which have resulted in an unusually high number of recommendations. Some common themes have emerged with regard to how organisations can improve their Health & Safety policies:
Fire evacuations and drills Around one quarter of the recommendations made by the Scrutton Bland team this year relate to an insufficient number of fire drills being carried out. In any risk assessment we would expect a minimum of two fire drills to be carried
out each year. Simple measures like ensuring that an appropriate number of fire marshals and wardens are trained and that the training is kept up- to-date not only keeps an organisation compliant, but could save lives. All too often we are seeing insufficient fire testing, record keeping and reporting on related fire activities. In light of some of the high profile fires which have occurred in both private and local authority owned buildings, it is imperative to ensure that you have an appointed person who understands and accepts their remit for ensuring compliance around record keeping and reporting.
Completion of risk assessments This is another area where our team have been making a significant number of recommendations this year. A large proportion of our findings have related to out-of-date or
inaccessible risk assessments, inappropriate sign off and oversight of completed risk assessments. All too often a lack of appropriate record keeping can leave the organisation open to liability, and its staff and clients potentially exposed to harm. Even where good discipline is maintained around record keeping, ensuring that assessments are regularly and appropriately reviewed is equally as important in order to avoid any assessments or recommendations becoming outdated.
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