Raise the Standard | Tool 4
The Officer Verification Worksheet
A two column table most boards cannot fill in and the six duties behind it. Built for directors, officers and executives who need to know whether their assurance is something they have seen or something they have been told.
The point of this worksheet
An officer duty is not discharged by receiving a report. It is discharged by verifying. Most boards can describe their safety system fluently and cannot fill in the second column of the table below. That silence is the audit and it is far better that you find it than a regulator does.
Part one: the evidence column test
The most honest safety audit in existence
Name the risks most likely to kill or seriously harm someone in this business. Then beside each one write the date a senior person last physically confirmed in the field that the control was in place and working, who that was and what they actually saw with their own eyes. Not what they were told. Not what the report said.
| Risk most likely to kill or seriously harm | The critical control | Date last verified in the field | By whom | What they actually saw |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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If the column stops you cold, you have found your first piece of work and it is not a policy.
Part two: the six duties, evidenced
What you would table tomorrow
Knowledge. Acquire and keep up to date knowledge of work health and safety matters.
Understanding. Gain an understanding of the nature of the operations and generally of the hazards and risks associated with those operations.
Resources. Ensure the business has available for use, and uses, appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks.
Information. Ensure the business has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information about incidents, hazards and risks, and for responding in a timely way.
Compliance. Ensure the business has, and implements, processes for complying with its duties and obligations.
Verification. Verify the provision and use of those resources and processes.
Part three: what changes now
Verification is a diary entry, not an intention
| The gap | What I will verify myself | Where and when | How I will record it |
|---|---|---|---|
The sentence that starts the conversation nobody else is starting.
Your read
The individual answers matter less than the disagreement between them. Look at the shortest bar first.
The next step
You have seen what is in the second column
Whatever that column looks like, it is now a known quantity rather than an assumption. That is a materially better position than the one you were in twenty minutes ago.
Knowing where the gap sits and having the room to close it are two different problems. Most people finish a worksheet like this with a clear picture, a full diary and no obvious first move.
That is the conversation worth having. Twenty minutes with the Advanced Safety team, looking at what you have just written down and telling you plainly what to do first, whether it is urgent and whether you need help at all.
Twenty minutes. No pitch and no obligation. Bring your worksheet. Most useful if you carry accountability for health and safety in your organisation.
Book at go.advancedsafety.co.nz/book
Advanced Safety Ltd | advancedsafety.co.nz | From Raise the Standard: Why Good Organisations Go Blind and How Leaders Restore Visibility by Matt Jones. This worksheet is a starting version of an instrument Advanced Safety runs in full. It is general guidance, not legal advice.
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