OHSAS 18001

Overview

Organizations of all kinds are under constant pressure to comply with occupational health and safety regulations and perform in line with their policy.

OHSAS 18001:2007 is the internationally recognised standard for occupational health and safety management systems. It gives you a framework to identify, control and reduce the risks associated with health and safety in your workplace.

This standard also assists companies with their planning and policy formation, while ensuring they comply with the latest health and safety requirements and legislation. It applies to organizations and enterprises of all types and sizes.

OHSAS 18001 STANDARD

The OHSAS 18001 Standard is based on the methodology known as Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). PDCA can be briefly described as follows:

• Plan: establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with the organization’s OH&S policy.
• Do: implement the processes.
• Check: monitor and measure processes against OH&S policy, objectives, legal and other requirements, and report the results.
• Act: take actions to continually improve OH&S performance.

Many organizations manage their operations via the application of a system of processes and their interactions, which can be referred to as the “process approach”. ISO 9001 promotes the use of the process approach. Since PDCA can be applied to all processes, the two methodologies are considered to be compatible

The key elements of an OHSAS 18001 management system are:

1. 1. Occupational Health & Safety policy – the organization states its intentions and commitment to improving health & safety performance.
2. 2. Planning – the organization identifies hazards associated with its operations and assesses the risks.
3. 3. Implementation and operation – the development and execution of processes to realize occupational health & safety (OH & S) objectives.
4. 4. Checking and corrective action – monitoring and measurement of OH & S performance to ensure that objectives are met.
5. 5. Management review – review of the OHSMS by the organization’s top management to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy and effectiveness.
6. 6. Continual improvement – enhancing the OHSMS in order to achieve improvements in OH & S performance consistent with the organisation’s OH & S policy.

WHY CHOOSE OHSAS 18001 – KEY BENEFITS

Organizations that have successfully implemented an OHSAS 18001 Management System typically report that, by adopting the requirements of this standard, the OH&S performance of their businesses has improved significantly. The total list of benefits realized by these organizations is assorted and diverse, but typically includes:

• Improved performance of OH&S processes;
• Increased internal OH&S performance levels
• Enhanced internal OH&S awareness;
• Demonstrated compliance with customer, regulatory and/or other requirements
• Reduction/elimination of cost associated with OH&S injuries/illness
• Maintain/improve organization’s public reputation in the health and safety industry
• Seamlessly integrate with quality, environmental and other sector specific management systems