The External Safety System Compliance Auditor

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Introduction

Welcome to the tenth and final article in this series on trucking safety systems!  This series took a dive into the components of trucking company safety systems and it will end with an article further describing the role of external safety auditors and their relationship with carriers.

 An expression so common in auditing communities that I cannot ascertain the original source is “In God we trust; everyone else will be audited”.  While humorous, this expression hints at an adversarial relationship between the auditing community and the community they audit.

 This should come as no big surprise.  Auditors are generally responsible for making sure people and organisations are doing what they are supposed to be doing and what they said they were going to be doing.  Having someone check up on you can send a message of mistrust.  Trust is important in relationships, and to have someone accuse you of not being trustworthy can feel deeply disheartening - even if the accusation is weakly implicit.

 If people were completely honest and compliant at all times, there would be no need for audits.  Alas, this is not the case, and so auditors serve a vital purpose in ensuring compliance with the laws that society deems important.  Compliant behaviour and operations do not need to worry about audits; however, not worrying is always easier said than done.

 From my experience in transportation safety, audits frequently dominate discussions when safety professionals gather.  Auditors are often revered as gatekeepers: individuals who have tremendous power and godly insight into the world of safety and compliance.  And in many ways, this reverence is just and deserved: the auditors I have known have been experts in their field, and since they represent either the law or compliance with a desirable, voluntary standard, they do operate from a position of power.

 But, the mystery around an auditor’s role serves no useful purpose and should be dispelled.  Auditors are professionals with a job to do, and learning more about what they do and where they fit in the bigger scheme of carrier safety systems can help audits feel less intimidating without downplaying their importance.

 So with that, let’s talk about auditors.

An Auditor’s Role

An auditor is anyone who checks in on a person or organisation to assess compliance with a set of rules.  “Auditor” is not a term that is unique to safety: financial institutions, maintenance facilities, government agencies, and personal taxes all represent space where specialised auditors may examine records to assess compliance.

 A single trucking company is subject to a variety of different audits.  Safety systems, elective border security program membership, financial records, labour practices: all these areas and more are subject to rules and regulations that can be enforced through audits.

 The following subsections will explore different aspects of an auditor’s role in compliance.

Codes of Ethics

One thing that auditors from different disciplines do have in common is that they typically have to adhere to a professional code of ethics.  A code of ethics - sometimes used synonymously with “code of conduct” - is a list of values and expectations that auditors are to adhere to in all of their professional dealings if they wish to continue auditing on behalf of the body that certifies them to conduct audits.

In Alberta, Certificates of Recognition (CORs) are given to companies that adhere to voluntary safety standards, and as part of obtaining a COR, the organisation must be audited by an external COR auditor who conducts the audit under the guidance of a Certifying Partner (an organisation that administers the COR program for that particular industry).  These COR auditors all must adhere to a code of ethics, and if you compare the codes of ethics between Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) and the Alberta Construction Safety Association (ACSA), you’ll see very similar values between the two codes [1, 2].

 Auditor codes of ethics show similarities across disciplines, too.  The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants publishes a code of ethics to which Canadian jurisdictions align their codes of ethics for Chartered Professional Accountants, and this code contains similarities with the COR codes above [3].

 An auditor’s code of ethics helps them provide consistent and unbiased service to multiple clients and organisations.  Since auditors are supposed to assess compliance and report back to a regulatory body, it is very important that they have rules to regulate their professional practice.  National Safety Code (NSC) auditors in Alberta - individuals responsible for assessing carrier compliance with transportation safety laws - follow their own code of conduct.

Relationship to Management

Auditors need to have some sort of relationship with the carrier’s management.  This does not mean they need to have direct access to the company’s owners and/or senior managers; what it does mean is that someone with the necessary authority needs to be accessible to the auditor.

 Depending on a carrier’s structure, the safety manager could be the point of contact for the carrier’s management if they have the authority necessary to facilitate the audit.  Senior management and owners should at least be made aware of why there is an audit going on; for some safety-related audits, elements of the safety program need to be known by all people in the organisation, so points will be missed in some cases if the organisation is so siloed that the safety program’s objectives are not known by all owners, managers, and staff.

Auditors Who Consult, Consultants Who Audit

As mentioned above, auditors are experts in the subject matter they enforce through audits.  As a result, auditors are naturally positioned to be good consultants.  By this same logic, good consultants often are good candidates for auditing positions.  And as a result of this subject matter overlap, many consultants are also auditors and vice versa.

Carriers should not be surprised if they find that their favourite safety consultant cannot conduct their official audits.  This would be a conflict of interest as the auditor would be auditing their own work.

Outside of direct conflicts of interest, though, finding a safety consultant who is also a certified auditor in the areas they consult is of benefit to a carrier.  The consultant will possess a deep understanding of what an audit will be assessing, so the advice they offer should prepare the carrier well for successful compliance.  There is no guarantee of this, but it is, to me, a reasonable assumption.

One word of caution, though: there can be a certain degree of subjectivity in an audit.  Audit tools may not be so black and white that they can guarantee uniformity across all of their auditors, so some variation between interpretations and applications can, at times, be expected.

Internal versus External Auditors

I should touch upon the difference between internal and external auditors.  In general, an internal auditor is someone who conducts audits of the organisation for which they are employed.  An external auditor, on the other hand, is someone who is not under the control of the organisation and who only comes to the organisation to conduct an audit.

It is easy to see how internal auditors are in a position of potential conflicts of interest; they are, after all, assessing the compliance of an organisation that controls their behaviour to a certain degree.  Internal auditors may be involved in the management and administration of the safety system they audit, too.  This means that they have a tendency to work and audit in a bit of a vacuum.

External auditors remove both the conflict of interest and vacuum experienced by an internal auditor.  As a result, mandatory audits (whether the result of enforcement action or voluntary attempts by a carrier to achieve a certain safety rating) sometimes require an external auditor.  As an example, new commercial carriers in Alberta require a compliance audit after operating for a short period of time as part of maintaining their operating status; this audit must be done by a certified Third Party Auditor, not someone employed by the carrier [4].

Internal auditors play an important role in a carrier.  Having someone on staff who has the responsibility of assessing the performance of a safety program is very important for ongoing safety program management.

Summary

This article marks the end of this series on trucking company safety systems.  We have looked at the importance of systems in organisations of all sizes, explored how a carrier’s safety system can be used for more than just minimum compliance, and discussed ways in which safety programs can evolve to meet new challenges and embrace new technology.

Trucking safety management is similar to other safety management in that it is all about risk mitigation, hazard identification, and compliance with laws and standards.  However, trucking companies conduct their operations in public spaces and on public roadways, and as a result, their management has the ethical responsibility to do whatever they can to ensure that their quest for business excellence does not come at the expense of the public.  And through ongoing reading and professional development, safety does not have to be learned by accident.

References

1 - “Internal Auditor Code of Ethics and Discipline Policy”, Alberta Motor Transport Association, accessed September 27th, 2021, https://amta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/05-Internal-Auditor-Code-of-Ethics-and-Disciplinary-Policy-2.pdf

2 - “Auditor Code of Ethics and Conflict of Interest”, Alberta Construction Safety Association, accessed September 27th, 2021, https://www.youracsa.ca/wp-content/uploads/ACSA-Auditor-Code-of-Ethics-and-Conflict-of-Interest.pdf

3 - “Handbook of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants”, International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants, accessed September 27th, 2021, https://www.ifac.org/system/files/publications/files/IESBA-English-2020-IESBA-Handbook_Web-LOCKED.pdf

4 - “Pre-entry requirements - Commercial carriers”, Government of Alberta, accessed September 27th, 2021,https://www.alberta.ca/pre-entry-requirements-commercial-carriers.aspx

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Dave Elniski

Since graduating from the University of Lethbridge in 2013 with a Bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and women and gender studies, my professional life has included work in health care, the Canadian military, speech and presentation training, writing, and the trucking industry.

My Bachelor’s degree included research in both biology and women and gender studies. This combination of science and social science research has given me a unique skill set for solving problems for organisations.

I have received my Certified Transportation Safety Professional (CTSP) designation from the Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) and am proud to be amongst the first graduates of the program. The CTSP stands out from other safety credentials as it is specifically designed for the transportation industry.

My Associate Diploma (ATCL) from the Trinity College London, England has given me specific skills and techniques for delivering speeches and presentations. These are skills that help me communicate ideas to stakeholders.

I have worked in the trucking industry as a driver and safety professional, and the majority of that has been with companies hauling flatbed freight in Canada and the USA. In that time, I have written on a variety of topics and regularly contribute to industry publications.