OHSAS 18001
Health and Safety Management
in the Manchester area
Working from Greater Manchester Lynwood consult with organisations in Manchester and throughout the North West to help develop their OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety Management System so that it fits in with what they do while at the same time enabling them to comply with the OHSAS 18001 requirements.
The OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety Management standard relates expressly to the management of Health and Safety in the workplace. It is structured to integrate seamlessly with other standards such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
Because these days no organisation in Manchester or the North West is exempt from Health and Safety legislation, it doesn’t matter what size your own business is, it will almost certainly benefit from implementing the range of disciplines that the OHSAS 18001 standard imposes. By incorporating these standards into your business you will greatly reduce the potential for accidents, help to control risks, improve legislative compliance and enhance your overall Health & Safety performance. At the same time, the sensible procedures and good practice that OHSAS 18001 integrates into your operation will help you avoid litigation, fines, penalties and even imprisonment. Your performance and cost-effectiveness will improve and with more and more companies now requiring proof that their suppliers operate in a safe and competent manner, OHSAS 18001 can afford you an invaluable competitive edge.
Lynwood can advise and guide you along the route to attaining OHSAS 18001 certification by Accredited Registration Bodies and can also provide Internal Auditor Training and Lead Auditor Training to help you manage your own Management Systems.
For an initial informal chat and free consultation about opportunities, procedures, training and costs, please contact us or visit us at our centre in Dukinfield, Tameside near Manchester.
OHSAS 18001 History
A number of international standards were being developed throughout the eighties and nineties and many organisations realised the benefits of adopting these standards. Responsible organisations also understood that they needed systems to ensure that their health and safety provisions were being managed as effectively as the other aspects of their business. At the time, apart from systems developed internal to organisations the only commonly accessible tool to help with health and safety management was the HSE’s HSG65, a guide to the successful management of health and safety. Although this was and still is a great tool for many organisations its value is restricted by its stand alone nature. It doesn’t integrate with other systems without significant effort on the part of those that utilise it.
What was needed was a standard which, like those within the ISO family, integrated seamlessly with quality, environmental and other standards used in modern organisations. The first version of OHSAS 18001 was released in 1999 and was based on the BS 8800 standard.
OHSAS 18001:1999 was superseded by OHSAS 18001:2007. Changes were made to revise definitions and to clarify the scope of the Occupational Health and Safety Standard. The changes in the language used in the 18001 standard made it easier to align with the existing ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and other international standards.
The new version brought about a new emphasis on planning health and safety arrangements, on managing change and more detailed requirements of risk assessments.
OHSAS 18001 Advantages
It is clear to see that if our health and safety provisions are to remain effective they must be managed in a systematic way to ensure that things do not go wrong and un-noticed. In other words we need a system to manage our health and safety provisions.
One of the benefits of the ISO family of standards is the way in which they integrate so that many of their requirements only need to be satisfied once, no matter how many standards are implemented within an organisation. Consequently, the more standards that are implemented the less additional work each one requires.
OHSAS 18001 is not an ISO standard but, unlike other health and safety standards and systems, it does integrate with them. If your organisation employs ISO 9001, ISO 14001 or other international standards then you could realise the benefits from the way in which it integrates.
There are other benefits too. Certification to OHSAS 18001 demonstrates to your potential customers that you are a reliable partner. You will not fail to deliver as a result of down time due to accidents or enforcement action from the authorities. In fact your system will demonstrate your regulatory compliance to the authorities and others.
You don’t even need to be certified to the standard to reap all of the benefits of OHSAS 18001. Simply by implementing an effective health and safety management system based on the standard you can improve employee safety, promote their involvement in your health and safety provisions and improve their morale and motivation. By adopting the 18001 standard to help develop your health and safety management system you will have the option of gaining certification at a later stage should things change.
The OHSAS 18001 standard can help to promote a safe and healthy work environment leading to reduced accidents and equipment down time, which will result in increased efficiencies and profits.
OHSAS 18001 Pitfalls
As with all standards there is often an external motivator to gain certification and this often leads to organisations buying a very expensive piece of paper to hang in the office. The benefits of OHSAS 18001 will only be realised if the spirit of the standard is adopted whole heartedly.
The Cost of Implementing OHSAS 18001
There are many variables that would affect the cost of implementing your OHSAS 18001 health and safety management system. Some organisations prefer to employ Lynwood in a purely consultative role, where managers internal to the organisation have sufficient knowledge of the standard and health and safety requirements to act upon the advice given. Some organisations want us to take on a more involved role where our consultants act as a member of their internal team helping to build the tools that they need to realise all of the advantages of OHSAS 18001 and some organisations are position somewhere between the two. Our services are not limited to assisting with the management system. We have expert health and safety practitioners who help to develop organisations provisions ranging from policy development and risk assessment through to day to day management of health and safety.
Depending on the size of your organisation and the workload of your employees it may be more cost effective to train your own staff to undertake your internal audits. Through the provision of training and mentoring we can help to develop your own workforce to undertake audits and even manage your audit processes. They can also be developed to take on a role in the management of your health and safety as apposed to the maintenance of your management system. See our health and safety training.
The decision on certification and selection of certification body has a significant impact on costs too. The good news is that Lynwood provides a FREE initial consultation in order to ascertain your needs and expectations. We can then provide you with an accurate quote and you can make an informed decision. So, if you are thinking about implementing OHSAS 18001 why not give us a call to arrange your consultation, after all it won’t cost you anything.
