When you hear company executives refer to a recent audit, you might naturally assume they mean a financial one. And most times, that's the case.

But more and more companies will have their overall approach to workplace safety audited as well. As a result, performing such an audit has become an added source of revenue for distributors of safety-related products and equipment.

The practice of having a facility audited is not limited to obvious industries, such as those who deal in hazardous chemicals or large construction sites. Warehouses and operations with nary a bulldozer or toxic material in sight have benefited from having a professional walk through the area and offer suggestions for improvements.

One distributor that performs such audits is Safety Services, Inc., of Kalamazoo, Mich. SSI is a distributor of health, safety and environmental equipment. Its clients come from industries such as food processing, automotive parts, foundries and construction, among others.

Tom Bradley, customer account manager, is a veteran of the safety end of the business. He came to SSI nine years ago after serving as safety manager for Gerber Products.

A company does not have to be a longstanding customer of SSI in order to request a safety audit, Bradley says. Such requests have increased lately, but the company says that selling their suppliers' products is still their main pursuit.

"We keep our lights on, so to speak, by selling products," Bradley says. "What makes us a little different is we're able to offer the [auditing] services that maybe others can't do."

Bradley and his staff can often find helpful improvements by just walking through a warehouse or plant, he says. From there, it can expand into their doing site-specific training on topics such as fall protection, a common area in need of upgrading, he finds.

By "fall," Bradley doesn't mean to imply three or four stories up. When six feet or more above ground (on a step ladder, for example), some protection has to be in place, be it railings, harnesses, etc. Bradley cites the seemingly routine chore of changing a ceiling light fixture. The person doing the task is in a hurry, perhaps, and decides to reach just a little too far, and...

"People will take the easy way out," he says. "They'll 'scooch' the ladder over rather than go down and move the ladder over, and then go up again."

Safety specifics and requirements can vary from industry to industry, depending on what products are being manufactured. But there are some common denominators that Bradley often comes across when walking through a business for the first time. Many companies are surprised to see that, contrary to what they had assumed, they have plenty of room for improvement.

"A lot of times there will be a complacency that has set in," Bradley says. "Usually, their eyes are opened and they are surprised at what they learn. It helps them to provide a safe and healthy work environment for their employees."

An upgrade in safety conditions will also ensure that a company is in compliance with whatever regulations their industry enforces. The best known regulatory agency is OSHA—the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

OSHA oversees the safety and health of workers by setting standards as well as providing training in overall workplace safety. OSHA has also been known to do surprise inspections, Bradley says. Some inspections can result from an employee complaint. On other occasions, OSHA auditors might think an inspection is due depending on what that company does or manufactures.

"Here in Michigan, I know that OSHA will target certain types of manufacturing at times," he explains. "So it's pretty hard for any company to fly under [OSHA's] radar screen year after year."

If a company does have a relatively unsafe work environment, their injury rate inevitably will start to go up. And that usually draws the attention of whatever regulatory agency applies to a given industry. And generally, under these conditions, these inspections are unannounced, Bradley says.

"They'll knock on the door, introduce themselves, and say 'We're here to do an audit,'" he explains. "Now, there might be times when they'll then say they'll be back a week from Monday, for example. But normally, it's a surprise visit."

One company that has used Bradley and SSI's expertise is Cadillac Castings located in Cadillac, Mich. Lowell Brown is Cadillac's EMT/Health Safety & Environmental team leader and workers' compensation coordinator. He has worked with Bradley and SSI for several years.

Cadillac is a foundry that makes suspension units, manifolds, and axels. Most of their products are sold to the automotive industry. Brown oversees a staff of four EMTs on call or duty 24/7.

SSI and Bradley serve primarily as Cadillac's source for its safety supplies, Brown explains. He and Bradley have worked together for several years and know each other well. A routine visit by Bradley, while perhaps too brief to constitute an actual "audit," can nonetheless result in benefits for both parties, Brown explains.

"Every couple of months he and I will just walk around the plant and see if there are any safety [additions] we can bring into the plant," Brown explains. "If he sees something that looks odd to him, he'll bring it up. It might be something that I've overlooked. It's nice to get other safety people in here and get fresh eyes on the subject."

Much of what Cadillac gets from SSI and Bradley is personal protection equipment, Brown explains.

"[Bradley] is in the know as to when new products are coming out," Brown says. "When he's in our plant, he'll see our people wearing dust masks [for example] and he might say 'Well, that stuff's OK but here's a new product...'."

By working with SSI, Cadillac is able to stay current with its safety approach and needed equipment, Brown says. Actually, trying to sell Brown on the importance of safety equipment is preaching to the choir. Saving expenses and costs is a nice benefit of his relationship with SSI, of course—but some things transcend finances.

"Years ago, a harness belt saved my life," he says.

Brown used to work in fire rescue and one day, he had a particularly close call.

"I was working up in a ladder basket," he recalls. "I fell out of that basket, but was wearing a harness. That harness held me, but I could have easily hit the ground."

SSI sells a wide range of safety-related equipment from a number of manufacturers and suppliers such as Industrial Scientific, Scott and MSA. SSI also rents certain types of monitoring equipment, portable gas monitors, and air sampling equipment.

One of SSI's suppliers is Brady Corp., which specializes in safety and high-performance industrial identification (such as bar coding), laboratory identification and general labeling applications. Their U.S. headquarters is in Milwaukee. Nancy Kane, national marketing director, explains that they encourage their distributors to be proactive in providing safety advice and auditing, as SSI is doing.

"We're seeing companies that are looking for the [safety] expertise they themselves do not have," she says. "In addition, a lot of people just don't have the time" to do a proper walk through or audit on their own, she adds.

Safety audits and professional feedback is being welcomed more and more, Kane says. It is both common sense and a time savings factor.

"Our distributor partners are getting more tuned in to providing services for their customers, and providing the best value," she says. "They know their customers and the issues they are facing.... We really value our distributor partners"

A good safety program, in any business, can result in profits in both the short and long term. Having an outside set of eyes come in and examine the operation can result in profits and benefits in other areas.

Northern Industrial Supply in Saginaw, Mich., started offering air audits in mid-2005 for companies using air and gas tanks. Proper use and storage of this type of equipment is vital.

Jeff Ostermann, Northern's vice president and general manager of the industrial air division, says these air audits can be beneficial, "for just about any company that uses more than 50 horsepower worth of air, for whatever purpose; any place where they might use a lot of [compressed] air for pneumatic controls."

Any gases that are in tanks on a warehouse floor, for example, must be handled and kept properly. Leaks of any kind—or poor storage of the tanks—can lead to waste of materials, at the least, or (if it is a hazardous gas or chemical), damage to persons or property. There is also the potential financial benefit.

"Air can be one of a company's largest expenses," Ostermann explains. "Typically, it can run to about 12 percent to 15 percent of the energy bills."

For their customers, Ostermann and his Northern Industrial staff and technicians can find a savings payback of "up to three times or better the price of the audit, if they follow our recommendations," he says.

In fact, Northern Industrial will guarantee such a savings. For example, if Northern charges a customer $5,000 for the audit, they can expect $15,000 that year in cost savings, assuming recommendations are strictly followed. (Northern charges $2,500 to $7,500 per audit, according to Ostermann.)

Northern Industrial was founded in 1934 as an industrial supply house. In recent years, though, the company had become concerned about many of its sale items and products becoming commodities. Ostermann started there in 1997 and in that time has seen the industrial air division "grow 10 fold through the end of last year," he says.

In '05, they expanded outside the normal service, repair and planned maintenance of compressors to do what Ostermann and his staff refer to as "predictive rather than reactive maintenance."

"There are a lot of advantages for a company having this information prior to a [potential] breakdown so things can be budgeted and scheduled," he says. "As a result, the customers have fewer unexpected breakdowns, less scrapped product."

Many of Northern's customers come from the automotive industries, especially the Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers to the Big Three, Ostermann explains.

As of early 2006, Northern Industrial can usually come in and perform an air audit within a week of receiving the customer's request. But Ostermann's hope is that this demand will increase throughout the year.

"Everyone is looking at lean manufacturing," he says. "And one of the best things they can do to cut costs is by looking at something [air] that is 12 percent to 15 percent of their overall utility budget."

In addition to the safety improvements and obvious financial benefits, Northern Industrial technicians and auditors can show customers more efficient and cost-effective ways to run their equipment.

"There is intangible savings there, too, as far as life expectancy of the product," Ostermann explains. "Machines can last longer if they can run smoother. A lot of times our audit will show them ways to run that equipment so it won't wear and tear so badly."

The best companies recognize this, experts agree, and add that this recognition must include ongoing training when needed—the most vital component of a consistently safe working atmosphere.

"Training is basically teaching common sense," SSI's Bradley says. "A good safety program rewards people for doing it right, and disciplines people for doing it wrong."