Managing risk to reduce accidents, comply with legislation and improve performance
Statistics from the UK Health and Safety Executive revealed that 180 people were killed at work in the UK in 2008/2009. This equates to an average across all sectors of 0.6 fatalities per 100,000 workers. A further 131,895 other injuries to employees were reported some of which could have had the potential to be fatal injuries.
Organisations now face a myriad of regulations and legislation aimed at tackling these concerning statistics, including the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter bill in April 2008, which makes it much easier to prosecute a corporate body ‘if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a person’s death, and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased’.
During 2008/2009, HSE inspectors served 7021 enforcement notices and brought 903 prosecutions, securing convictions in 83% of the cases brought. The average penalty was £11,036.
During 2008/2009 1.2 million people who worked during the last year were suffering from an illness (long standing as well as new cases) they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work. 551 000 of these were new cases. 29.3 million days were lost overall (1.24 days per worker), 24.6 million due to work-related ill health and 4.7 million due to workplace injury - having a huge impact on organisations productivity and ultimately profitability.
In addition to the risk of breaches in legislation, prosecution, fines and lost productivity, organisations face the risk of rising operating costs, insurance premiums and civil litigation.
Whilst HSG 65 (a document first published by HSE in 1991) is a guidance to managing health and safety, it is not compulsory and cannot be assessed against. Stakeholders want to be assured that the organisation is minimising these risks and taking their social responsibilities seriously.
BS OHSAS 18001 is the internationally recognized assessment specification for occupational health and safety management systems written such that it can be assessed against to give the assurance demanded by stakeholders. The standard promotes a safe and healthy working environment by providing a framework that allows an organization to consistently identify and control its health and safety risks, reduce the potential for accidents, aid legislative compliance and improve overall performance.
In following the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach of many management system standards, BS OHSAS 18001 has been designed to be compatible with ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001 (Environmental), 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
"We wanted to link all our activities, products and services to the best principles and practices and saw OHSAS 18001 as an ideal route to help us do this” – R Hughes, WH Smith (Tools) Ltd
"We implemented an OHSAS management system to ensure the common application of a system across a number of group divisions" – A Jupitas, Geoffrey Osborne Limited
Who is BS OHSAS 18001 relevant to?
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.
Next Steps
Using BS OHSAS 18001:2007 as a framework to manage and reduce the risks associated with health and safety can lead to:
- Reduction in the number of accidents
- Less absenteeism
- Reduction in downtime and associated costs
- Lower insurance premiums
- Higher productivity
- Improved business performance
- Improved management of health and safety risks
- Improved reputation
- More engagement with top management
- Improved compliance with legislation
- Lower risk of prosecution and fines
- Integration with existing management systems
- More innovation
Next steps
We offer a comprehensive range of BS OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems training courses for those delegates who are new to the standard and management systems, as well as those who need to audit and improve an existing Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS). Furthermore, our courses will help you understand the benefits of becoming certified to BS OHSAS 18001.
You can choose whether you would like to attend one of our scheduled open courses or have it delivered on your premises as an in-company solution.
Next steps
Any organisation can claim that they comply with the requirements of a standard. However, self declaring compliance will not satisfy all your stakeholders.
BS OHSAS 18001 has been written such that it can be audited and certified against. Certification is the end goal of the independent assessment of an organization’s implementation of a management system standard such as BS OHSAS 18001. The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that the organization has effectively implemented the requirements of the standard and that the system is effective in managing the occupational health and safety risks of the organization.
The Assessment Process
The assessment is conducted by one of our highly trained and experienced Client Managers who will have an excellent understanding of your business area and will support you as you move forward with the assessment and certification of your Occupational Health and Safety Management System. The assessment is conducted in two stages:
Stage 1 of the assessment will concentrate on a review of the documented processes and procedures and assessing the system for compliance to the requirements of the standard. Your Client Manager will identify any omissions or weaknesses that need resolving before Stage 2 of the assessment.
Stage 2 focuses on assessing the implementation of your occupational health and safety management system and will involve discussions with all levels of staff within your organization. Assuming no major issues are raised, the assessor will make a recommendation for certification and a certificate of registration will be issued following an internal independent review and approval process.
The relationship does not stop there. We will carry out a programme of continuing assessment visits – typically two visits a year – to ensure that you continue to implement your occupational health and safety management system and that it continues to be effective and meet the requirements of the standard.
We also offer an optional Pre-Certification Audit - typically lasting one day - the objective of which is to ascertain the progress you are making in defining and implementing your occupational health and safety management system and to ensure that the basic requirements of the system are in place and that there are no glaring omissions before the initial assessment takes place.
Benefits of Certification to BS OHSAS 18001
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:
- 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
- Improved reputation and brand image also providing competitive advantage
- Assurance of continued compliance and avoidance of lapses into bad practices
- Focus on continual improvement in occupational health and safety performance
- Deemed to satisfy the entry requirements for construction schemes in the Safety Schemes In Procurement (SSIP) forum for construction including CHAS, ConstructionLine, Exor and NHBC
Why Choose BSI?
- BSI is a world leader in Standards, Assessment, Certification and Verification
- We have a worldwide network of assessors with management systems assessment experience at your disposal
- Our ability to undertake complex, multi-national, multisite, process-based assessment work is second to none
- BSI has the capability, specific strengths and knowledge to assess the effectiveness of your occupational health and safety management system
- By choosing BSI, certified organizations will be able to use and benefit from BSI’s logo, which holds UK Superbrand status
Next steps
