A comprehensive review of safety audits: ensuring workplace safety and compliance in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Safety audits are systematic evaluations of an organisation’s safety management system, policies, procedures, and practices to identify potential hazards and assess compliance with relevant regulations and standards. This article provides a comprehensive review of safety audits, focusing on their role in ensuring workplace safety and compliance in Zimbabwe. A comprehensive search was conducted across various databases, including PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Sage Publications, to gather relevant articles. The relevance of the literature to the topic being studied was assessed by utilising abstracts and key words such safety audits and safety standards. The article examines multiple research studies carried out on the topic and presents a comprehensive summary of the present condition of safety audits in Zimbabwe. The findings indicated that the objective of safety audits is to proactively identify areas for improvement and implement corrective actions to prevent accidents, injuries, and occupational illnesses. The study indicates types of safety audits including compliance audits and management system audits. The article delves into the key components of safety audit processes, benefits of safety audits and challenges and limitations of safety audits in Zimbabwe. The article concludes by emphasising the importance of continuous improvement in safety audits.

Keywords:

• Safety audits
• safety management
• occupational health and safety
• safety regulations
• risk assessment
• workplace hazards
• safety culture
• safety standards
• employee safety
• legal requirements
• safety training

Acknowledgements

All sources were acknowledged.

Author’s contributions

Tapiwa Shabani and Takunda Shabani were responsible for coming up with the idea, doing literature search and data analysis under supervision of the Steven Jerie. Tapiwa Shabani and Takunda Shabani developed the final draft and proof read the document and further adjustment were done by Steven Jerie.

Conflicts of interest

This manuscript has not been submitted to, nor is under review at, another journal or other publishing venue.

Consent to participate

All authors participated and agreed to participate up to final revision of the manuscript.

Consent for publication

Authors agreed to let the article published when considered for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics approval

Approval was granted by Midlands State University to carry out the research as well as to publish under its name. All sources were properly cited to avoid plagiarism.

Data availability statement

The data generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The authors have no affiliation with any organisation with a direct or indirect financial interest in the subject matter discussed in the manuscript.

Notes on contributors

Tapiwa Shabani

Tapiwa Shabani has a B.Sc. Honours in Geography and Environmental Studies (Midlands State University). For the past few months he has been involved in teaching and helping undergraduate students to improve their academic writing skills. Currently studying MPHIL IN GEOGRAPHY ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE BUILDING. His research interests include solid waste management, occupational safety and health, climate change and development and environmental management.

Steven Jerie

Professor Steven Jerie holds a DPhil degree in Solid Waste Management and an MSc in Environmental Policy and Planning. He has published 71 journal papers and 8 books to date. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Dyke Journal of the Midlands State University and was the Chairperson of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies from 2010 to 2016. His research interests include solid waste management, occupational safety and health, climate change and development and environmental management. He is a member of some professional associations that include the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), Geo-Science Information in Africa (GIRAF), the International Association for Promoting Geo-ethics (IAPG), the Zimbabwe Institute of Safety and Health (ZIOSH), the Organisation of Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) and the Council for Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).

Takunda Shabani

Takunda Shabani has a B.Sc. Honours in Geography and Environmental Studies (Midlands State University). For the past few months he has been involved in teaching and helping undergraduate students to improve their academic writing skills. Currently studying MPHIL IN GEOGRAPHY ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE BUILDING. His research interests include solid waste management, occupational safety and health, climate change and development and environmental management.