BS OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety

Many organizations are implementing an Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) as part of their risk management strategy to address changing legislation and protect their workforce.

An OHSMS promotes a safe and healthy working environment by providing a framework that allows your organization to consistently identify and control its health and safety risks, reduce the potential for accidents, aid legislative compliance and improve overall performance.

BS OHSAS 18001 is the internationally recognized assessment specification for occupational health and safety management systems. It was developed by a selection of leading trade bodies, international standards and certification bodies to address a gap where no third-party certifiable international standard exists.

BS OHSAS 18001 has been designed to be compatible with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, to help your organization meet their health and safety obligations in an efficient manner.

The following key areas are addressed by BS OHSAS 18001:

• Planning for hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control
• OHSAS management programme
• Structure and responsibility
• Training, awareness and competence
• Consultation and communication
• Operational control
• Emergency preparedness and response
• Performance measuring, monitoring and improvement

BS OHSAS 18001 can be adopted by any organization wishing to implement a formal procedure to reduce the risks associated with health and safety in the working environment for employees, customers and the general public.

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In a competitive marketplace, your customers are looking for more than just keen pricing from their suppliers. Companies need to demonstrate that their businesses are managed efficiently and responsibly and that they can provide a reliable service without excessive downtime caused by work-related accidents and incidents.

Certifying your BS OHSAS 18001 management system enables your organization to prove that it conforms to the specification and provides the following benefits:

• Potential reduction in the number of accidents
• Potential reduction in downtime and associated costs
• Demonstration of legal and regulatory compliance
• Demonstration to stakeholders of your commitment to health and safety
• Demonstration of an innovative and forward thinking approach
• Increased access to new customers and business partners
• Better management of health and safety risks, now and in the future
• Potential reduced public liability insurance costs

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We are experts in training as well as assessment and have a network of public and in-house courses dedicated to teaching you the skills you need before, during and after registration to the standard.

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To find out more about courses devoted to OSHAS.

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There are key steps that every organization implementing an occupational health and safety management system will need to consider:

1. Purchase the specification

Before you can begin preparing for your application, you will require a copy of the specification.

2. Review support literature

There are a wide range of publications designed to help you understand and implement an occupational health and safety management system.

3. Consider training

There are a range of workshops, seminars and training courses available to help you implement and assess your occupational health and safety management system.

4. Review consultancy options

You can receive advice from independent consultants on how best to implement your occupational health and safety management system. They may have the experience in implementation that can help you avoid costly mistakes.

5. Design the BS OHSAS 18001 management system

The BS OHSAS 18001 specification follows the plan-do-check-review cycle, with a concurrent emphasis on continual improvement. This model fits in neatly with the structure of other management system documents, such as ISO 14001 and ISO 9001.

This alignment of the management system documents helps in the facilitation of Integrated management systems.

The following steps help form the basic structure of the management system and link into the structure of BS OHSAS 18001.

Plan

During the planning stage you should:

• Ensure you have the commitment of top management
• Define, with the authorization of top management, your company's occupational health and safety policy
• Planning must be completed to establish a framework for identifying hazards, risk assessments and the implementation of necessary control measures
• Legal obligations must be identified and understood, objectives set and a management programme for achieving them implemented; this entire process should be documented

Implement your health and safety management system

At this point you should:

• Establish roles and responsibilities
• Develop procedures for the consultation and communication of OHS information to employees and other interested parties
• Document your processes and develop a system of document and data controlz
• Apply a system of operational control
• Establish plans and procedures for emergencies
• Check your management system and take any necessary corrective action

You should aim to continually improve your management system by:

• Introducing performance, measuring and monitoring practices
• Establishing and documenting responsibility and authority for accidents, incidents, non-conformities, and corrective and preventative action
• Establishing a procedure for records and records management
• Auditing and assessing the performance of the management system
• Performing management reviews of the system at identified and defined intervals

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