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    All templatesAudits · 5 pages · Updated 25 September 2026

    General Safety Audit Checklist

    Five-page, 120-item workplace inspection checklist in eleven sections, from housekeeping to manual handling. Each item is marked compliant, partially compliant, non-compliant or N/A, with an owner and a target close date.

    Sections (120 items)

    1. Housekeeping and workplace conditions (12 items)
    2. PPE compliance (10 items)
    3. Machinery and equipment guarding (15 items)
    4. Electrical safety (14 items)
    5. Fire prevention and protection (12 items)
    6. Emergency preparedness (10 items)
    7. Chemical storage and handling (10 items)
    8. Working at height (10 items)
    9. Confined space controls (8 items)
    10. Lockout / tagout (10 items)
    11. Manual handling and ergonomics (9 items)

    Each item: compliant · partially compliant · non-compliant · N/A, with an owner and a target close date.

    What requires or shapes this record

    A checklist walk records workplace conditions. Several items check a record that a specific rule requires, and those are the ones an inspector will ask to see. The provisions below explain what those items are checking, and where the checklist ends and an audit programme begins.

    • 29 CFR 1910.147(c)(6)

      The lockout/tagout item "Periodic audits" checks this: an inspection of each energy control procedure at least annually, by an authorized employee other than those using it, and a certification naming the machine or equipment, the date, the employees included and the inspector.

    • 29 CFR 1910.157(e)(2)–(e)(3)

      Behind "Extinguishers in date": portable extinguishers are visually inspected monthly and given an annual maintenance check, whose date is recorded and kept for one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less.

    • 29 CFR 1910.119(o)

      If the site has a process covered by OSHA's process safety management standard, this checklist does not replace the PSM compliance audit: at least every three years, by at least one person knowledgeable in the process, with a report of findings, a documented response to each and evidence that deficiencies were corrected. The two most recent reports are kept.

    • ISO 45001:2018, clause 9.2, and ISO 19011:2026

      The checklist is one input to an internal audit under ISO 45001 clause 9.2 (internal audit), not the audit programme itself. ISO 19011 gives the guidance on managing audit programmes and conducting management system audits; its fourth edition was published in May 2026 and ISO now lists ISO 19011:2018 as withdrawn. The printed PDF still says "ISO 19011 aligned" without an edition.

    Each source checked on 25 September 2026. Not legal advice; check the text in force for your site.

    Field by field

    Status: compliant, partially, non-compliant, N/A
    Why: Four states keep "mostly fine" separate from "fine".
    Common mistake: Using partially compliant as a polite fail with no action. Anything short of compliant gets an owner and a date.
    N/A
    Why: Records that an item does not apply here, so the next auditor does not recheck it.
    Common mistake: N/A with no reason, which reads the same as "not checked". Write the reason once per section.
    Owner
    Why: Actions without a named person do not close.
    Common mistake: A department ("maintenance") instead of a person.
    Target close
    Why: Set by the risk of the finding: a chained extension lead is fixed the same day, a missing inspection record within weeks.
    Common mistake: Giving every finding the end of the month.
    Record-based items
    Why: "Respirators fit-tested", "Scaffold tags current", "Periodic audits" and "Training records" are checked against a document or tag, not by asking.
    Common mistake: Ticking them on a verbal assurance.
    Section totals
    Why: The form does not compute a score, deliberately: 110 of 120 can hide that the ten failures are in lockout/tagout.
    Common mistake: Reporting a percentage without listing the non-compliant items.

    Worked example

    IllustrativeExtract from a completed audit (invented site)

    Section · itemStatusFindingOwnerTarget close
    Fire · 1 Extinguishers in datePartially compliant2 of 14 extinguishers had no August monthly inspection markFacilities coordinator7 days
    Lockout/tagout · 7 Periodic auditsNon-compliantNo certification of a periodic inspection for press line 2 in the last 12 monthsMaintenance manager30 days
    Working at height · 3 Scaffold tags currentCompliantBoth scaffolds checked carried tags dated this week––
    Electrical · 2 No daisy-chained extensionsNon-compliantExtension plugged into extension at the office printer bankOffice managerSame day
    Confined space · all 8 itemsN/AThe site's space register lists no permit spaces (checked 12 August)––

    The lockout finding is about the missing certification record that 1910.147(c)(6)(ii) requires; the practice itself may be fine, but nothing shows it.

    When a spreadsheet stops being enough

    On paper the checklist records findings; closing them is the hard part. With several auditors and sites, a spreadsheet loses the thread between a finding, its corrective action and the evidence that closed it, and it cannot show that the same item fails at three sites.

    A software record assigns the action to the owner straight from the finding, reminds before the target date, keeps photos with the item and trends repeat failures by item rather than by overall score. Inspections happen in plant rooms and basements, so ask what happens to photos taken offline.

    Same rule for every product: tagged “Inspection Management”, “Audits & Inspections”, “Inspections”, “Offline Inspections”, “Mobile Inspections”, “Equipment Inspection”, “Audit Management”, “Internal Audit”, “Safety Management” or “EHS Management”, with a sourced inspection or safety-audit checklist capability in its record, or one the vendor stated to us, labelled as vendor-stated. Documented and conditional capabilities qualify; check the linked scope before treating a module as included.

    Tekmon pays for a sponsored placement (above); its place in this list follows the same rule as every entry. How lists are ordered

    All 77 matching profiles are shown. Documentation review, not hands-on testing or a claim of compliance.

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