What the safety manual audit is
Avetta's page for suppliers says registration takes safety documentation, questionnaires and insurance, that Avetta reviews your information against your client's requirements, and that the price depends on the type of work you do and your client's specific requirements, with a quote during registration (avetta.com). Its health and safety page says suppliers submit their safety manuals for review against job-specific requirements and receive findings, recommendations and corrective actions, and that the audits run from reviewing safety programs to verifying implementation in the field (avetta.com). On its pages for clients, Avetta names three kinds of audit: safety manual audits, implementation audits and field audits (avetta.com). When it announced changes to its safety manual audit tools in June 2025, Avetta described the audits as expert evaluations of contractors' and suppliers' safety policies and procedures (businesswire.com).
One Avetta quick start guide, written for the suppliers of a facilities-services client, walks through the steps. It defines a manual audit as the review of a contractor's safety manual, policies and procedures and safe work practices. The health and safety manual goes into a prequalification task for safety and health management system documentation; once that task is approved, the manual audit starts and an Avetta HSE professional reviews the manual; any missing policies are listed in a manual audit task for you to upload. The same guide says that, for that client, the audit review produces no score and no pass or fail (Avetta quick start guide). Other clients can set it up differently. Your account shows what yours asks for.
Who asks for it: utilities, facility owners and other hiring clients. Entergy, for example, says on its Avetta page that onsite contractors and subcontractors must register with Avetta and connect to the Entergy business unit they work with to complete health and safety prequalification (pages.avetta.com).
What goes in the manual
In the U.S., no OSHA standard requires a document called a safety manual. The standards require specific written programs when the hazard is present, and those programs are what an audit question usually looks for. A manual for an Avetta audit is those programs, bound behind a table of contents, plus the policies your client adds. For a contractor that usually means:
- The written programs OSHA requires for your work: hazard communication (1910.1200(e)(1)), lockout/tagout procedures (1910.147(c)(4)(i)), respiratory protection (1910.134(c)), an emergency action plan (1926.35(a); 1910.38(b)), permit spaces (1926.1203(d)), silica (1926.1153(g)(1)) and the others your work triggers. The full list by rule is in which written safety programs OSHA actually requires.
- The management side: who is responsible for safety, how you train, how you investigate incidents, how you inspect, and how you manage your own subcontractors.
- Your client's own topics, such as drug and alcohol testing.
Write it as a set of stand-alone programs with numbered sections and pages, so each audit question can be pointed to a place in the manual. The page reference method in our ISNetworld guide works the same way here.
What reviewers look for
Avetta's one-page guidelines for its Asia-Pacific suppliers are the most detailed public list of what its reviewers check. The legal references there are Australian, so the content requirements differ from a U.S. contractor's, but the document rules read like a checklist anyone can use (Avetta APAC guidelines):
- Dated within the last three years, with the revision date on the front page, in a revision section or in the footer, and not a future date.
- On company letterhead that matches the company name on the Avetta account.
- A final version: no template or draft marks and no tracked changes.
- Word or PDF, self-contained, with no external links.
- Generic to your company: references to a particular client, project or site removed.
- Each file linked to the category, topic or question it answers.
The same document lists the common reasons for rejection: the document was not found (a wrong or missing file); the company name doesn't match the account; the format is wrong; it is not a comprehensive program (too little information, or content that doesn't belong); it is not a final version; the review or revision date is missing or more than three years old; and the requirement is not met, meaning the document doesn't line up with the audit question or the jurisdiction's requirements.
When an item doesn't apply to your work
Avetta's Asia-Pacific guidance says N/A by itself is not a sufficient reason. It asks you to use the comment field at the question, or to send a clarification letter with the company name, the date, the category or questions, the reason, and leadership's acknowledgement. Where you have no formal procedure, it asks for a dated, signed statement on letterhead explaining how each open requirement is handled. Even where your client's setup differs, that is a sound way to answer: say why the item doesn't apply ("We do not enter permit spaces; confined space work is subcontracted to a qualified firm"), sign it, date it, and keep it with the manual.
When documents come back
- Read the open requirement and the reviewer's comment. It names the item.
- Find the place in your program that answers it. If there isn't one, add it under a heading that uses the question's own words.
- Fix the date, the company name or the format. Do this when one of them was the reason.
- Upload again and resubmit. The Asia-Pacific guidance says to click Resubmit after addressing open requirements and to allow five business days for review there; your client's timing may differ.
- Ask when a question is unclear. The quick start guide says to contact your auditor directly.
After the manual, some clients add implementation or field audits, where an auditor checks that crews follow the written procedures (avetta.com). Keep the manual honest. It may be read against your jobsite.
Rather have the 29Safety safety team write it? The Bid and prequal packet, $795:
- Your company safety manual
- Up to 8 written programs from your GC's list
- A site-specific safety plan for one job
- English and Spanish, as separate copies
Written from the list your general contractor or platform gives you, filled in with your company. What passes is still the reviewer's decision. See what's in the Bid and prequal packet.
More on prequalification
- Written programs for ISNetworld, Avetta, Veriforce and GC prequalification
- ISNetworld RAVS written programs: what the review is and how to prepare
- Highwire safety assessment: the documents, the score and how to clear a discrepancy
- Subcontractor prequalification packet: what general contractors ask for
- OSHA 300A for prequalification: three years, exempt companies and numbers that match
- EMR for prequalification: what the experience mod means and where the letter comes from
- TRIR and DART for prequalification: the formula and the mistakes reviewers catch
A manual built from stand-alone programs, cited to the rule
29Safety's construction edition writes the programs a prequal list asks for, each cited to the paragraph and filled in with your company name, your responsible person and the answers you give to its questions, in English or Spanish. It builds a one-click prequal packet too: your written programs, training records, 300A summaries and insurance documents in one PDF, in the order a prequal questionnaire asks for them. It does not upload to Avetta for you, and it cannot promise acceptance; what passes is your client's decision.
See exactly what you'd get
The JHA plus a toolbox talk record, an inspection and more, in one PDF: five documents for a jobsite crew, or three for a plant. No watermark.
Plans from $199 a month. No per-person fees. 14 days free.
Rather have us write it? Two written programs ($295)
Need the whole packet? Bid and prequal packet ($795)
Questions we get
Is there a pass or fail on the Avetta safety manual audit?
It depends on how the client sets it up. One Avetta quick start guide says that for that client the audit review produces no score and no pass or fail, and that missing policies are listed for you to upload. Your account shows how your client uses the result.
Does the manual have to be on letterhead and dated?
Avetta's guidelines for its Asia-Pacific suppliers require letterhead that matches the account's company name and a date within the last three years, shown on the front page, in a revision section or in the footer. Those are good rules anywhere: a current date and your exact company name remove two of the most common rejection reasons.
Can we answer N/A?
Not with N/A alone, according to Avetta's Asia-Pacific guidance. Explain why the item doesn't apply in the comment field at the question, or in a signed, dated clarification letter that names the questions and the reason.
Does Avetta check our manual against OSHA?
Avetta says it reviews your information against your client's requirements, and its health and safety pages talk about regulations in general terms. Write each program to the OSHA rule that applies to your work either way; that is what an OSHA inspector will read.
Does 29Safety submit to Avetta or promise approval?
No. 29Safety is not affiliated with Avetta. It writes your programs, cited to the paragraph and filled in with your company, and builds your prequal packet; you upload to your account, and the outcome is up to your client and Avetta.
Not sure how this applies to your work? in the chat, or email safetyteam@29safety.com.
Sources
Checked November 5, 2026. Platforms, owners and general contractors set their own requirements and change them; the list in your account or on your form is the one that counts.
- Suppliers, Avetta
- Health and Safety Solutions, Avetta
- Safety audits, Avetta
- APAC Guidelines for Successful Audit Submission, Avetta
- Avetta Connect quick start guide for BGIS suppliers, Avetta
- Entergy contractor prequalification, Avetta and Entergy
- Avetta Enhances Safety Manual Audit Capabilities (June 17, 2025), Business Wire
- 29 CFR sections linked in the text: eCFR, the official text