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What is a Shield Audit?

🛡 The Shield Audit – Protecting Business Leaders from Personal Prosecution

In today's regulatory environment, it is no longer enough to simply "have a health and safety policy." Business leaders — directors, senior managers, and anyone with control of work — face real and increasing risk of personal prosecution when things go wrong.

Recent HSE enforcement trends show a clear move towards holding individuals to account under:

  • Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (for directors and senior managers)

  • Section 7 (for operational managers and supervisors)

  • Corporate Manslaughter and Gross Negligence Manslaughter

  • Other relevant regulations, such as CDM 2015

What is the Shield Audit?

The Shield Audit is a specialist service offered by Armadillo Safety Solutions, designed specifically to protect individuals from prosecution, by focusing not just on general health and safety compliance — but on the personal and organisational factors that influence the decision to prosecute.

We conduct an in-depth review of: ✅ Decision-making structures
✅ Document drafting — ensuring policies, risk assessments, and procedures clearly show leadership commitment without assigning impractical personal liability
✅ Management accountability — demonstrating that staff, supervisors, and managers are all held responsible at the correct level
✅ Systems for monitoring and enforcement — proving that you actively check compliance
✅ Key indicators — ensuring there is evidence to support that prosecution is not in the public interest

Why is this important?

When the HSE or police are deciding whether to prosecute, they look at:

  • Did you put suitable systems in place?

  • Can you show you took all reasonably practicable steps?

  • Were responsibilities clearly shared, and enforced across the business?

  • Were decisions documented and defensible?

The Shield Audit focuses on building a legal shield for the business and the individuals within it, by ensuring you:

  • Avoid inadvertent personal liability through poorly written documents

  • Can demonstrate you took reasonable and proportionate action

  • Have credible arrangements to show you were not negligent

How does it work?

✔ Full review of your current health and safety documentation
✔ One-to-one interviews with business leaders and key managers
✔ Review of accountability structures
✔ Advice and redrafting of documents, risk assessments, procedures, and management processes
✔ Delivery of a Shield Report with tailored recommendations
✔ Ongoing support to implement changes

The Outcome

Following the audit, you will have:

  • A structure that demonstrates leadership, without exposing individuals unnecessarily

  • Clear evidence that health and safety is taken seriously at all levels

  • Documented proof that enforcement action or prosecution would be unreasonable

  • Practical advice on how to maintain this protection going forward

Let’s Work Together

Get in touch so we can start working together.

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01233 349040

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Armadillo Safety Solutions, Ashford, Kent TN26 3AP

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