ISO 18001 Certification
OHSAS 18001 is officially
referred to as BS OHSAS 18001. It is internationally applied British Standard
for occupational health and safety management systems. It has been developed to
be compatible with ISO 9001:2008 (Quality) and ISO 14001:2004 (Environmental)
management systems standards. This has been done to facilitate the integrity of
quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management by
organisations. The multi-dimensional organisations are more concerned with
achieving and demonstrating occupational health and safety (OH&S)
performance. This is ensured by controlling their OH&S risks, that are
consistent with their policy and objectives. Every responsible business’s
priority is to ensure employee health and safety in the workplace. Thus, the
protection of staff and his reputation is accomplished with BS OHSAS 18001.
The need of control and
improve health and safety performance was recognised worldwide by the
organisations. They were aware that it was to do so with occupational health
and safety management systems (OHSMS). There was an increase of national
standards and proprietary certification schemes before 1999 and this has caused
ambiguity and fragmentation in the market and undermined the individual schemes
credibility. An international collaboration called the Occupational Health and
Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) Project Group was formed after recognising
this deficit, to create a single unified approach. By 2009 more than 54,000
certificates had been issued in 116 countries to OHSAS or equivalent OHSMS
standards.
There are many advantages
of an effective OHSAS management system. The following section illustrates on
the same –
● It provides a structured
approach for managing OH&S
● It establishes and
maintains a commitment to occupational health and safety
● It demonstrates strong
commitment to safety excellence
● It ensures organisational
structures in place with clear roles and responsibilities
● Its existence ensures a
continuous improvement culture
● It helps in building
strong levels of trust and communication
● It helps in reduction in
incident levels with increased measures of performance
● It also contributes to
business performance by reducing cost and liabilities
The fundamental elements
on which OHSAS 18001 is based on are –
● Identification of Hazard –
The process of recognizing that a hazard exists (source or situation with the
potential to cause harm in terms of human injury or ill-health).
● Assessment of Risk – The
process of evaluating the risk arising from the hazard (combination of the
likelihood of a hazardous event or exposure and the severity of injury or ill
health that can be caused by the event of exposure).
● Applicable controls
determination – Measures relevant to
eliminate or reduce risk to an acceptable level. Measures are based on the
hierarchy of control measures.
The organisations need to
handle the above elements with greater significance, to achieve an effective
health and safety system. The overall system will collapse if the above three
aspects are considered properly. They are the important foundation for
implementing OHSAS 18001.
OHSAS 18001 Occupational
Health and Safety Standards mainly uses a management approach tool called as
PDCA cycle. It is an ongoing process that enables an organisation to establish,
implement and maintain its health and safety policy. It is based on top
management leadership and commitment to the safety management system. The
intermediate segments are as follows:
Plan – This segment makes sure to establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with the organisations OH&S policy
Do – This segment focuses on implementing the process
Check – This segment is mainly focused on monitoring and measuring performance against OH&S policy, objectives, legal and report results
Act – This segment focus on taking efforts to continually improve OH&S performance
The standard can be implemented by the whole organisation or a part of it depending on the result. OH&S policy is integrated into other management systems and then into the organisation culture.
For effective
implementation of the standard, we need to understand the above segments in
detail. The following section deals with it –
Plan – The planning stage
of the process requires the organisation to:
- Plan an OH&S policy
- Plan for identification of
hazard, assessment of risk and determination of controls
- Identify relevant legal
requirements
- Plan for emergencies and
responses
- Manage change effectively
- Plan procedures for
measuring performance, monitoring and improvement
- Provide and ensure the
appropriate use of safety equipment
- Train to introduce an
OH&S culture
- Establish the importance
of safety statement, policies and objectives of organisation
- Consult and communicate
employees
Do – The implementation
stage is the easiest part of this process. It is basically dependent on the
previous step, if the planning stage is done correctly then it is just a matter
of following the documentation and procedures that have been created. Smooth
implementation can be ensured by appointing a lead senior manager who will
oversee the new OH&S system. This will minimize risk in the long run.
Segmentation is done i.e. the whole system is broken into specific elements and
tackled accordingly. Emphasizing on specific elements creates a solid
foundation for the whole system to work efficiently in a logical order.
Check – The third segment
of the PDCA cycle consists of the following –
- Conducting internal audits
- Evaluation of legal compliance
- Identifying
non-conformities and addressing them
- Thorough analysis of
incidents and incidental data
- Measuring performance and
monitoring
The breakdown of the
system happens if the internal audits are not conducted periodically. The most
effective and robust systems ensure that this process runs smoothly always.
Preventative action is the process to identify possible emergencies and develop
relevant response procedures. The OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety
Management Specification does not hinder the performance of organization,
rather improves it.