It’s the little things

The picture isn’t from Hollywood or from photoshop or from a magazine.

It is taken from my mobile phone. Before I continue no-one was hurt and the incident was dealt with safely and by trained professionals.

However, how did this happen?

Quite simply… it was the little things. The oil needed changing and wasn’t done. The oil level was low and not topped up, the coolant was very low and the warning light was ignored.

All “little things” that led to a high pressure situation which then led to a catastrophe.

We have all heard in business and the work place “It’s the little things that matter”. It is true. How much business have you lost because attention to detail was not followed, you got someone’s name wrong, a picture in the wrong place?

Let’s go back to the car for a moment and apply to it to your building. The little things that stop a catastrophe and your building being on fire. These little things are:

• Training
• Safety Checks
• Safety Systems
• Compliance completed
• Daily Checks
• Preventative Maintenance
• External Auditing

External auditing. Now why did I mention external auditing? It is because I believe you will get a more transparent and truthful audit if it is done by an external company. It is in their interest to get your audit right. They are not there to catch you out or trip you up, but to help you. An audit is like a tool, it is how it used. Use it correctly it is valuable, use it incorrectly it is expensive and useless.

Internal auditing, it is possible…and not always the case…but possible that the audit will not be as thorough or transparent for various reasons.

So take a look at your “little things” next time your are completing your routine checks, making sure you are compliant and most of all…has the auditor picked up on these things? Has the auditor got your compliance and safety in the front of their mind.

Sometimes bad things happen due to a chain of small events coming together that could have been prevented.

Take a look at the picture again. What could you have done to prevent the event? What WILL you do to prevent the little things being missed…causing a chain of events at your property?

More importantly…is your auditor helping you looking after your people and reducing your risks, or just ticking boxes?

Take care yourselves, and of course you know what else.