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OHSAS 18001
OHSAS 18001, Occupational Health and Safety Assessment
Series, (officially BS OHSAS 18001) is an internationally applied
British Standard for occupational health and safety management
systems. It exists to help all kinds of organizations put in place
demonstrably sound occupational health and safety performance.
It is a widely recognized and popular occupational health and
safety management system. [1]
Contents
Origins
Development
Certificate of conformity to OHSAS
Adoption as British Standard
18001:2007
How they work
Disambiguation
ISO 45001
References
External links
Origins
Organizations worldwide recognize the need to control and improve health and safety performance and do so
with occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS). However, before 1999 there was an
increase of national standards and proprietary certification schemes to choose from. This caused confusion
and fragmentation in the market and undermined the credibility of individual schemes.
Development
Recognizing this deficit, an international collaboration called the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment
Series (OHSAS) Project Group was formed to create a single unified approach. The Group comprised
representatives from national standards bodies, academic bodies, accreditation bodies, certification bodies and
occupational safety and health institutions, [2] with the UK’s national standards body, BSI Group, providing
the secretariat. [3]
Drawing on the best of existing standards and schemes, the OHSAS Project Group published the OHSAS
18000 Series in 1999. The Series consisted of two specifications: 18001 provided requirements for an OHS
management system and 18002 gave implementation guidelines. As of 2005, around 16,000 organizations in
more than 80 countries were using the OHSAS 18001 specification. [4] By 2009 more than 54,000 certificates
had been issued in 116 countries to OHSAS or equivalent OHSMS standards.
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Adoption as British Standard
The OHSAS 18001 specification was updated in July 2007. Among other changes, the new specification was
more closely aligned with the structures of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 so that organizations could more easily
adopt OHSAS 18001 alongside existing management systems. [5] Additionally, the "health" component of
"health and safety" was given greater emphasis. [6]
Later, the BSI Group decided to adopt OHSAS 18001 as a British standard. [5] BSI Group subsequently adopted
the updated 18002 guidance specification for publication as BS OHSAS 18002 in 2008.
How they work
Its supporters claim that an occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) promotes a safe
and healthy working environment by providing a framework that helps organizations to:
Identify and control health and safety risks
Reduce the potential for accidents
Aid legal compliance
Improve overall performance
The OHSAS 18000 standards provide organizations with the elements of an effective safety management
system which can be integrated with other management systems and help organizations achieve better
occupational health and safety performance and economic objectives.
BS OHSAS 18001 specifies requirements for an OH&S management system to help an organization develop
and implement a policy and objectives, which take into account legal requirements and information about
OH&S risks. It applies to all types and sizes of organizations and accommodates diverse geographical, cultural
and social conditions.
BS OHSAS 18002 provides guidance for establishing, implementing or improving a management system
which is based on OHSAS 18001 and demonstrating successful implementation of OHSAS 18001.
OHSAS 18001 can be aligned with existing ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 management systems. Historically many
organizations start with the quality management system ISO 9001, then add the environment management
requirements from ISO 14001. Many organizations now look at implementing all three standards at once
which can minimize costs and disruption. The standards can be integrated using a standard such as BSI’s PAS
99.
Disambiguation
The OHSAS 18000 standards were written and published wholly outside of the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) framework. To avoid confusion, ISO 18000 does exist – but it is a radiofrequency
identification standard. [7]
ISO 45001
In October 2013, the International Organization for Standardization approved the project proposal to develop
the ISO 45001 standard, an ISO analogue to the OHSAS 18000 standards. [5] This is stated to be taking OHSAS
18001 into account along with other international standards. [8]
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References
1. BS OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety (http://www.bsigroup.com/en/Assessmentandcertificat
ionservices/managementsystems/StandardsandSchemes/BSOHSAS18001/)
2. International Labour Office Report, Page 2, Footnote 3 (http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/ed_nor
m/relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_091362.pdf)
3. Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Management Systems,Standards and Certificates Survey to 31
December 2005 (http://iso14000expert.com/publications/OHSASsurvey.pdf)
4. BSI Group website (http://www.bsigroup.com/en/Assessmentandcertificationservices/managementsyste
ms/Businessareas/Occupationalhealthandsafetymanagement/UpdatedOHSAS18001cominginJuly/)
5. "ISO 45001 Whitepaper: A new International Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management
Systems" (http://www.bsigroup.com/LocalFiles/enGB/iso45001/Resources/BSIISO45001RevisionWhite
paperENUK.pdf) (PDF). BSIgroup.com. British Standards Institution. Retrieved 20161118.
6. BSI Press release July 2007: Health and safety management systems specification OHSAS 18001 is now
a British Standard BS OHSAS 18001:2007 (http://www.bsigroup.com/en/aboutbsi/NewsRoom/BSINews
Content/Disciplines/RiskManagement/BSOHSAS180012007/)
7. Solving the mystery: A summary of OHSAS 18000 and ISO 18000 (http://www.asse.org/practicespecialtie
s/management/docs/dmanaISO18000.pdf)
8. "ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety" (http://www.iso.org/iso/iso45001). ISO.org. International
Organisation for Standardization. Retrieved 20161118.
External links
Official website (http://www.bsigroup.com/enGB/ohsas18001occupationalhealthandsafety/)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=OHSAS_18001&oldid=821249483"
This page was last edited on 19 January 2018, at 08:28.
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