Anyone interested in the inside track on the UKAS pilot programme currently running for OHSAS 18001?

Send it Paul. At times the "official" infromation may be a bit slow.

Yes please , I'm interested.

Sorry it has taken a little while. I have been getting some sort of a go ahead to proceed with releasing information. It's not exactly bullet proof but I can live with the risk (or is that the hazard?). :D

Back in April (ish) UKAS got the OK from the UK Government to accredit certification bodies to OHSAS 18001. Up till then they had been prohibited because their mandate from government was only for international standards and - as we all know OHSAS isn't a standard!

UKAS sent an invite to all accredited CBs to take part in the project and a total of around 16 qualified to take part in the pilot. Including all the usual suspects.

The pilot involves a document review, head office assessment and a Stage 2 assessment at a (relatively) high hazard industry site. No details of individual cases but here are some edited highlights of their findings so far:

Often not possible to confirm that the stage 1 audit covered readiness for assessment
Very few examples of competence being assessed/reported upon at stage 1 for the company experts
A number of what can only be described as “shallow audits”
An ‘inspection’ approach where every deficiency is seem as an isolated occurrence to be “put right”.
No discussion about awareness, culture re OHSAS etc
Insufficient questioning of the system todetermine if an isolated occurrence or an inherent ‘systematic’ issue
Examples seen where evidence raises doubt re. adequacy of management controls but not categorised as a major NCR


I've got the cat .... now where did those pigeons go? :lol:

Am off to put my safety at risk by holidaying in Austria on skis but will happily comment on my return!

Enjoy!