OHSAS 18001 Background:

 

Through the 1990’s, there were several unsuccessful attempts by some countries to promote the development of a standard for health and safety management at ISO level. Recognizing that their customers in many countries demanded such a standard, a group of thirteen international certification bodies (registrars) developed a “management system specification” document and a “guidelines for implementation” document for health and safety management. These were published by BSI Standards in 1999 and 2000 respectively as OHSAS 18001 and OHSAS 18002. In the absence, so far, of an ISO standard, OHSAS has quickly become recognized as the de-facto international specification for health and safety management in all industry and geographical sectors.

OHSAS 18001 was specifically designed to be fully compatible with the ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001 (Environmental) management system specifications. Like these standards, it contains outline requirements for a health and safety management system and does not contain “absolute performance criteria”.

 

The Drivers for OHSAS 18001

Many companies have recognized the immense value of management systems approach to managing all facets of their business and have adopted systems compliant with OHSAS 18001 with a view to eliminating accidents, reducing insurance premiums and demonstrating compliance and “due diligence” to interested parties, (particularly regulators such as US-DOL OSHA).

 

Who is using OHSAS 18001?

OHSAS 18001 and OHSAS 18002 specifications are being used by those forward-thinking companies that are dedicated to using a “beyond compliance” approach to make their working environments safer. Because environmental management and health and safety management are closely linked in many companies, OHSAS is also often adopted by those companies employing ISO 14001 compliant systems. OHSAS 18001 requirements are fully compatible with OSHA requirements.