What is OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001?

Aimed at management of health and safety, OHSAS 18000 (sometimes mistakenly called "OHSA" or "OSHA 18000") is not a Standard the way ISO 9000 / ISO 9001 and ISO 14000 / ISO 14001 are. OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001 is an assessment series published by a British standards institution. Since there is not yet an official ISO health/safety management standard, OHSAS 18001 has achieved a certain level of international acceptance. But it has not gone through the exhaustive development and deliberative ISO process that involves all affected stakeholders worldwide. Therefore OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001 is not, properly speaking, a Standard, but actually a "specification." OHSAS 18001 requires you to identify health/safety hazards and risks associated with your operations, eliminate or at least control those hazards / risks, and demonstrate improvement by minimizing and/or eliminating illness and injury. To comply with and become registered to OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001, the organization must: Determine the health and safety hazards and risks associated with its operations; Identify health / safety laws / regulations pertinent to its operations; Design and implement controls to eliminate or at least manage health / safety hazards / risks; Establish improvement programs and set targets, goals, and measurement methods to track the effectiveness of the controls.

The organization must also establish and communicate its health / safety policy, maintain records, internally audit its 18000 system, ensure affected employees are competent through training or other means, submit the system and its status and results to regular management review, and appropriately document the system.

What's the difference between OHSAS 18001 and ANSI Z-10?

ANSI Z-10 (more formally, ANSI/AIHA Z-10 2005) is a relatively new American national standard for safety management. Like OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001, it follows the same PDCA (plan / do / check / act) model of ISO 9000 / ISO 9001 and ISO 14000 / ISO 14001. But there are significant differences between Z-10 and 18000. Generally speaking, Z-10 is more detailed and more prescriptive. For instance: The responsibilities of top management are strongly defined. In particular, Z-10 more strongly expresses the responsibility of top management for providing all forms of resources necessary for effective imp and operation. Like 18000, Z-10 requires hazard/risk analysis. But it openly recognizes change and the necessity for managing change, by requiring ongoing reviews. Z-10 obviously requires that controls be put in place to manage identified risks and hazards. But Z-10 prescribes a hierarchy of responses to identified hazards/risks, ranging in order of priority from elimination to personal protective equipment.

 Z-10 is very specific in its requirements for identification and control of associated hazards and risks pertaining to contractors and visitors, Training of contractors is mentioned. Unlike 18000, Z-10 pretty much mandates testing of emergency responses (i.e. drills) The training requirement is more specific and prescriptive. Trainer competence must be verified, and training must be provided "in languages trainees can understand." Management review is called for and the requirement is (as with ISO 9000 / ISO 9001) much more detailed and prescriptive.

If we already comply with health/safety laws, aren't we also compliant with OHSAS 18001?
No. OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001 certainly calls for health/safety management controls that you doubtless already have in place in compliance with the law. But besides those "core processes" for health/safety management, OHSAS 18001 also mandates a number of significant support processes, including employee training, performance measurement, management of documents and records, etc. Even more significant, while health/safety laws/regulations are about maintaining a health/safety performance status quo, OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001 goes beyond that to require health/safety performance improvement.

What kinds of health/safety performance standards does OHSAS 18001 prescribe?

None. OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001 is way too general and generic for that. Moreover, it is intended to apply to any organization deploying any process anywhere in the world. Clearly, the benchmark for health/safety performance standards are those mandated by health/safety regulations. But a core theme of OHSAS 18001 is improvement in these areas beyond the minimal benchmarks of regulatory compliance.

What kinds of organizations implement OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001?

The majority of organizations implementing OHSAS 18001 today do so in response to pressure from outsiders, such as key customers. In this, OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001 is similar to quality management standards. Others, not under customer coercion, implement OHSAS 18001 to demonstrate their good citizenship and/or to set themselves apart from competitors.

What are the external benefits of an OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001 system?
Satisfies the demands of current or prospective customers for registration. Boost international acceptance and credibility. OHSAS 18001 is known, recognized, and accepted without question. Increase acceptance by regulators, the general public, and other interested parties. OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001 is a "good

citizen" credential. Places you in an elite category of businesses. Registration to OHSAS 18001 puts your organization on the identical level of excellence shared by organizations of all kinds worldwide. Keeps you prepared for external audits and inspections i.e. regulators, customers, etc.

What are the internal benefits of an OHSAS 18000 / OHSAS 18001 system?
Transforms your operation from detection mode to prevention mode. Prevention is less work and less expense than detection. With an OHSAS health/safety management system, you mitigate or eliminate hazards and risks to protect the health and safety of employees and others. Creates consistency throughout the organization built around "best practices". Improves business performance. A well designed, well implemented OHSAS health/safety management system can help lessen workplace illness and injury. Lessens dependency on key individuals. An OHSAS health/safety management system distributes responsibility and accountability across the work force. More people share more information and accountability for key safety tasks. Result: tasks or processes don't collapse just because one person (i.e. "Alphabet guy" OHSA, ISO, etc.) leaves or changes jobs. And each person carries his or her small share of the load. Provides blueprint for controlled, disciplined growth. Some organizationis see OHSAS health/safety management systems as a way to organize the business, systematize practices, and ensure management accountability as the organization expands. Strengthens regulatory compliance. With an OHSAS health/safety management system you can demonstrate that you are aware of, and comply with, the laws and regulations that pertain to you: federal, state, and local. You'll also have airtight control of important schedules, filings, records, etc. That can help you prevent getting NOV's because you forgot to send an annual

$200 fee in. Ensures consistent training. An OHSAS health/safety management system is like a collection of road maps. Each road map provides direction from one end of a process to the other. New people to the process are trained using the road map. They refer to the road map while they're learning. Their performance is tested against the road map. And once they know their process, they don't need to refer to the road map anymore. Except when the process changes, in which case the road map changes and people are retrained to it. Improves management oversight. An effective OHSAS health/safety management system incorporates monitoring and measurement of key performance indicators in health/safety. This gives management objective data upon which to base decisions. The required self-auditing function is even more powerful. Internal auditing is an "early warning system" to help you spot health/safety threats giving you the chance to address and resolve them before they are detected by others, rather than after. And then management review provides management with solid data, enabling management to make decisions based on facts and evidence. Facilitates continual improvement. For many reasons -- employee morale, insurance costs, liability, etc. -- not to mention simple human concern for the welfare of others -- nothing in a business is more important than improving health/safety performance.

Must quality / environmental / health-safety management systems be separate?

No. The quality and environmental Standards parallel OHSAS 18001 and have many significant elements in common. You can implement an integrated business management system -- either all at once or on an incremental basis -- that addresses quality as well as environmental management along with health/safety management -- without redundancy or duplication of effort.