C3.2.1 continued (3)
Scoring systems
Some organisations incorporate scoring systems into inspections. There may be a point specific rating for each question, or a general “yes, that’s OK” is +1 and “no, that’s a problem” is -1.
This also has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that there is a mechanism for comparing different inspections, as there will be a resulting score or % of compliance. This can be useful in larger organisations and multi-site operations to compare different work activities easily.
However, the difficulty is in devising the scoring mechanism in the first place. If not done correctly, sites may earn scores that do not accurately reflect the true environmental performance of the site. Careful consideration must be given to the weighting of questions. For example, in terms of environmental risk, it is more important that a site is complying with a legal requirement (such as having the required Waste Transfer Notes in place) than it is that the site has a copy of the Environmental Policy on display. The weighting of the scores must reflect this.
Having a resulting score from an inspection can promote competition amongst Managers, who will generally wish to see their sites with higher scores. However, this can lead to a focus on score and statistics rather than environmental performance.
Example environmental checklists are provided below:
Basic tick Checklist : C3 – Example Check List Inspection
Broad headings: C3 – Example Broad Inspection
Specific questions: C3 – Example Detailed List Inspection
Scoring mechanism: C3 – Example Scored Checklist