OHSAS 18000

 

 

What is an OHSAS 18000 management system?

The main goal of an organizations occupational safety management system is to provide a safe and secure work environment, to avoid accidents and to ensure high levels of operational safety.
The most important principles and requirements for occupational safety are the mandatory requirements covered in health and safety legislation: Occupational safety law, addressed in various statutes from the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Welfare relating to basic principles of occupational health and safety in Latvia.

 

Main goal of the OHSAS 18000

The OHSAS 18000 standard provides a framework of good management practice for developing a formal health and safety management system. It is a mechanism for ensuring high levels of occupational health and safety, for all employees and others directly affected by the business activities.

 

Principles of the OHSAS 18000

The principles and structure of an occupational health and safety management system are defined in the OHSAS 18000 standard (Occupation Health and Safety Assessment Series), which has been developed by British Standardization Institution (BSI) in association with other national standards bodies, certification bodies and specialist consultancies.

 

A considerable number of standards bodies and other interested organizations from around the world have worked closely with BSI to develop the OHSAS 18000 series of standards. The certification bodies world-wide which have contributed to the work on OHSAS 18000 presently hold some 80 per cent of the world market for management system certification and hence a very high degree of international consensus has been achieved through the joint development of OHSAS 18000.
The OHSAS 18000 standard is designed to apply to organizations of any type and size, and it is adaptable to different geographical, cultural and social conditions.

 

Organizations need for the OHSAS 18000?

This series of standards provides the opportunity for an organization to implement a management system and to obtain a certificate according to the principles of the internationally recognized standard, OHSAS 18000.

 

By implementing this standard the organization demonstrates that it wishes to establish an occupational health and safety management system to eliminate or at least to minimize risks to employees and other interested parties, who may be exposed to occupational health and safety hazards associated with its activities.

 

The standard demonstrates the way in which the organization controls and manages high-risk factors, which may arise in day-to-day activities or from a disaster situation.

 

Basic elements of the Occupational health and safety management system

The occupational health and safety management system is based on the Deming circle of continuous improvement – Think, Do, Plan and Act, which interconnects four sequential activities:

 

• Occupational health and safety policies,
• Planning, introduction and action,
• Control, evaluation and corrective actions,
• Management review.

 

Relationship of OHSAS 18000 with ISO 9000 and ISO 14000

 

The OHSAS 18000 standard has been designed to be compatible with ISO 9001:2000 (Quality) and ISO 14001:1996 (Environmental) international management system standards, in order to facilitate their integration with occupational health and safety systems.

 

Certification to OHSAS 18000 demonstrates that you are serious about concerns for the health and safety of your employees and other interested parties.