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OHSAS 18001: Occupational Health and Safety
What is OHSAS 18001?
OHSAS 18001 is one of the International Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems. It provides a framework for the effective management of OH&S including all aspects of risk management and legal compliance. It addresses occupational health and safety rather than any specific product safety matters.
Please note: OHSAS 18001 has been replaced by ISO 45001 - published on 12th March 2018, the new international standard for occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS).
Whilst you can still apply for OHSAS 18001 certification we would advise you look at ISO 45001 as it will be easier to align with other ISO standards. If you're unsure which standard is best for you, contact us and we can discuss your requirements.
Migrating to ISO 45001
Watch our pre recorded webinar below for a presentation on how the ISO 45001 standard will change the way occupational health and safety management systems are implemented and certified.
Terry Fisher, OHSMS Assessor, explains:
- The structure of the standard and introduction to Annex SL
- The key concepts of ISO 45001 and the migration timeline
- New terminology and important definitions introduced in ISO 45001
- The main differences between the requirements of OHSAS 18001 and ISO 45001
You can also download our handy Gap Analysis document which gives a clause-by-clause comparison of OHSAS 18001 and ISO 45001.
Migrating to ISO 45001:2018
Helps you with
- Identify workplace hazards and implement effective preventive controls
- Prevent injury and ill-health among your workforce
- Reduce the risk of lost time accidents and ill-health, therefore saving costs
- Evaluation of compliance with applicable legislative requirements
- Improves the safety culture
- Identify areas for training and competency requirements
- Assist with pre-qualification processes from your customers
- Promote corporate responsibility
ISO 45001 — The Fundamentals
ISO 45001:2018 is the replacement to OHSAS 18001 and is the international ISO standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS).
Not only has the standard superseded OHSAS 18001, it makes integration with other management systems simpler than ever before; because it shares the new common structure defined by Annex SL, it is directly aligned with the 2015 versions of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
You can find more information about this standard and the differences to OHSAS 18001 in the NQA ISO 45001 Gap Guide below. Please note: Existing NQA OHSAS 18001 clients can get migration support and can download the gap analysis document that must be completed prior to a migration audit.
Benefits of Health & Safety Certification
Reduced operating costs
Less down-time due to incidents and ill health and lower costs from legal fees and compensation means money saved.
Improved stakeholder relationships
Make the health and property of staff, customers and suppliers more of a priority and people will respond.
Legal compliance
Understand how statutory and regulatory requirements impact your organization and its customers.
Improved risk management
Identify potential incidents and implement controls and measures to keep risk as low as possible, protecting employees and customers from harm.
Proven business credentials
Independent verification against a globally recognized industry standard speaks volumes.
Customer satisfaction and safety
Meet customer requirements consistently whilst safeguarding their health and property.
Win more business with SSIP
This occupational health and safety standard is recognized by Safety Schemes In Procurement (SSIP) within the construction industry.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Implementation of a structured management system can aid demonstration of CSR and organizational culture.
Is OHSAS 18001 right for me?
OHSAS 18001 is right for over 90,000 certified organizations in over 127 countries around the world. It’s right if you and your organization need to demonstrate a commitment in managing the safety of people it is responsible for, and you have already designed and started to implement your systems based on OHSAS 18001:2007.
NQA has certified a wide range of organizations in different sectors including automotive, water and manufacturing
Organizations that implement OHSAS 18001 need:
- a clear management structure with defined authority and responsibility.
- defined objectives for improvement, with measurable results
- a structured approach to risk assessment and reduction.
Health & safety management failures, performance and the review of policies and objectives should be regularly monitored to ensure improvements and business benefits are realised and prioritised accordingly.
The new H&S standard ISO 45001
Firstly - don't be afraid of this new standard – even though it is completely new, it builds on established foundations of BS OHSAS 18001. The structure of this new standard will be familiar to those of you who use the 2015 revision to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 – Annex SL.
The new standard has been designed to help companies achieve the following:
- Identify workplace hazards and implement effective preventive controls
- Prevent injury and ill-health among your workforce
- Reduce lost time accidents therefore cost saving
- Evaluation of compliance with legislative requirements
- Improves the safety culture
- Identify areas for training and competency requirements
- Improve productivity
- Assist with pre-qualification processes from your customers
- Promote corporate responsibility
Steps to Certification
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Step 1
Complete a Quote Request Form so that we can understand your company and requirements. You can do this by completing either the online quick quote or the online formal quote request form. We will use this information to accurately define your scope of assessment and provide you with a proposal for certification.
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Step 2
Once you’ve agreed your proposal, we will contact you to book your assessment with an NQA Assessor. This assessment consists of two mandatory visits that form the Initial Certification Audit. Please note that you must be able to demonstrate that your management system has been fully operational for a minimum of three months and has been subject to a management review and full cycle of internal audits.
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Step 3
Following a successful two stage audit, a certification decision is made and if positive, then certification to the required standard is issued by NQA. You will receive both a hard and soft copy of the certificate. Certification is valid for three years and is maintained through a programme of annual surveillance audits and a three yearly recertification audit.
