Free self-audit
New to the job? Sixteen questions for your first 90 days on site
For a new health and safety, facilities or operations manager: the questions worth answering before somebody else asks them. Each one names the law or guidance behind it, or says so when it is just good practice.
One A4 sheet. Free, with no form to fill in, and nothing to send anyone.
First 90 days: site safety self-audit
1. Getting everyone out
- ___If the alarm went now, could you list everyone on site, staff, visitors, contractors and drivers, within five minutes, without anyone going back inside?Practice
- ___When was the last fire drill, how long did the roll call take after the last person arrived, and is it written down?GOV.UK: one a year, recorded
- ___Are there enough named fire marshals for every shift, including nights and weekends?FSO art 15(1)(b)
- ___Does everyone who needs help to get out have arrangements written down, and do the people who will help know?GOV.UK mobility needs
2. The assessments
- ___Is the fire risk assessment recorded, who did it, and has it been reviewed since the last change to the building or the way work is done?FSO art 9(3), (6)
- ___Are the general risk assessments recorded (five or more employees) and reviewed since the last significant change?MHSW reg 3(3), (6)
- ___Is the written health and safety policy current (five or more employees), and has it been brought to every employee’s notice?HSWA s 2(3)
- ___Is there an asbestos register for the building, and do contractors see it before they drill or cut?CAR 2012 reg 4
3. Contractors and visitors
- ___Does every contractor get your site’s risks and rules before starting, and is there a record of who was told what?MHSW reg 12(1), (3); record is practice
- ___Are contractors’ method statements, risk assessments and insurance on file and in date for the work they are doing now?Practice
- ___Is hot work done only under a written permit, with a fire watch afterwards, as your insurer’s condition asks?Insurer, FPA RC7
- ___Could a stranger read the visitor book on the reception desk? Who can see past entries, and how long are they kept?UK GDPR
4. The paperwork people ask for first
- ___Is the employers’ liability certificate displayed, or available electronically to all staff, and in date?ELCI reg 5
- ___Is the health and safety law poster up, or the leaflet given to everyone?HSIE reg 4
- ___Is there an accident book, and do people know where it is?SS (C&P) reg 25(3)
- ___Is extraction (LEV) examined and tested at least every 14 months, with five years of records?COSHH reg 9
A self-audit, not an audit, and not legal advice. England and Wales. Sources: noonelite.com/first-90-days-site-safety-checklist.
Being straight with you
What this sheet does not do
- This is a self-audit, not an audit. It tells you where to look first; it does not tell you whether your site complies with anything.
- It is general information about published law and guidance for England and Wales, not legal or health and safety advice. Your own assessments and your competent advisers decide what applies.
- Two questions are practice only, because no regulation asks them in those words: the five minute roll call and contractors’ paperwork. They are on the sheet because they are what goes wrong first.
- Score it on your side. Nothing on this page sends anything to us, and you should never send anyone a photo of your visitor book to check it.
- We make visitor and contractor sign-in kiosks with a live roll call. We are not health and safety consultants.
A fire drill record templateA contractor induction recordA visitor health questionnaire, for food and packaging sitesWhat GDPR means for a visitor book
Sources
Check any of this yourself
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 9The fire risk assessment, its review and its record.
- GOV.UK, fire safety equipment, drills and training“At least one fire drill per year and record the results.”
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3Risk assessment, review and record.
- MHSW Regulations 1999, regulation 12Information for the outside employer (12(1)) and for the person working in your undertaking (12(3)).
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2The written policy statement, section 2(3).
- Fire Safety Order, article 15Enough competent persons to carry out an evacuation.
- GOV.UK, fire safety and evacuation plansSpecial arrangements for people with mobility needs.
- Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1998, regulation 5, as amended in 2008Display, or electronic access for every relevant employee.
- Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989, regulation 4The approved poster or leaflet.
- Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1979, regulation 25Paragraph (3): the accident book.
- COSHH 2002, regulation 9Examination and testing of control measures, and records.
- HSE, the duty to manage asbestosThe register and who holds the duty.
Read on legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK on 9 November 2026, latest available text.
Before you ask
Questions new managers ask
What should a new health and safety manager look at first?
Most people start with the things that would matter in the first bad hour: whether everyone can be got out and accounted for, whether the fire risk assessment matches the building as it is now, and who is on site who does not work there. The paperwork comes next, because it is what an inspector, an auditor or an insurer asks for first. The sheet above is in that order.
Does a fire risk assessment have to be written down?
Yes. Article 9(6) of the Fire Safety Order, as amended from 1 October 2023, requires the responsible person to make a record of the assessment or review as soon as practicable. The older rule that only applied it to five or more employees no longer appears in the article.
How often should local exhaust ventilation be tested?
COSHH regulation 9(2)(a) requires thorough examination and testing at least once every 14 months, or more often for the processes listed in Schedule 4, and regulation 9(4) requires the records to be kept for at least five years.
Also asked of sites like yours
The other things somebody may ask you to evidence
Each of these is a page about one standard, one duty or one visitor, written the same way as this one: what it actually asks for, what an iPad at reception records towards it, and where it does not help.
- GDPR and the visitor book
- CMMC physical security
- List X visitor control
- ITAR visitor log
- Def Stan 05-138 visitor access
- ISO 27001 visitor access
- PCI DSS visitor log
- Forensic science code visitor record
- AEO visitor access control
- Known consignor visitor control
- CTPAT visitor log
- TISAX visitor management
- TAPA FSR visitor log
- BRCGS visitor control
- BRCGS packaging visitor control
- BRCGS storage and distribution visitors
- BRCGS unannounced audit
- Visitor control non-conformity
- SALSA visitor control
- IFS Food visitor hygiene
- UFAS feed mill visitor control
- GMP visitors in production areas
- GDP wholesale visitor control
- Fire roll call
- Contractor management
- Mortuary visitor and contractor record
- Construction work in occupied premises
- HSE inspection records
- ISO 45001 contractor control
- Visitor NDA sign in
- Visitor record retention
- What a visitor log must contain
- Standards calendar
- Sign in sheet template
- Visitor health questionnaire template
- Contractor induction template
- Permit to work template
- Hot work permit template
- Fire drill record template
- Building work client checklist
- Moving into new premises checklist
If it helps
If question one was a no
Fifteen minutes on the phone if you want to see a live roll call that includes visitors and contractors and does not need fetching. If your current system answers question one, keep it.
Book a 15 minute callWe will say so on the call.
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