OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System - AS/NZ 4801 - UNE 81900

[Marc]

This doesn't really belong here, but there isn't really a place for it. I'm posting it because of it's 'coordination' with ISO9001.

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Subject: ANNOUN: Joint News Release - The Development of the OHSAS Docs
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 11:11:19 -0600
From: ISO Standards Discussion

From: "Vianna, Sidney"
Subject: ANNOUN: Joint News Release - The Development of the OHSAS Docs

OHSAS 18001
Occupational health and safety management systems: - Specification

For some time there has been urgent customer demand for a recognisable occupational health and safety management system specification, for the assessment and certification of OH&S management systems. However, there has been insufficient agreement within the formal standards development processes for the development of a UK national standard, a European standard, or an international standard, in this area (although agreement was eventually reached over the development of BS 8800: 1996 Guide to occupational health and safety management systems). This has led to the development of a number of OH&S management systems specifications, both by national standards bodies and by independent groups. DNV, in association with other national standards bodies, certification bodies, and specialist consultancies, has since decided to try and meet this increasingly urgent customer demand, and to try and harmonize the work in this field. This has resulted in the development of this Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) Specification, OHSAS 18001. This standard will be offically released in the UK in April 99.

It is stressed that OHSAS 18001 is not a UK national nor International standard and certification can still only be done on a non-accredited bases. OHSAS 18001 has not been developed through the formal standards development process. Instead, it has been developed by a process that is open to other sponsors wishing to produce similar types of documents in association with BSI, provided that those sponsors are willing to comply with BSI's conditions for such documents. Most of BSI's conditions only apply to the UK.

An accompanying publication, OHSAS 18002 Guidelines for the implementation of OHSAS 18001, is also under development and will be published shortly (June 99).

OHSAS 18001 has been developed to be compatible with the IS0 9001: 1994 (Quality) and IS0 14001: 1996 (Environmental) management systems standards, in order to facilitate the integration of quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management systems by organizations, should they wish to do so.

It is hoped that the application of OHSAS 18001 may provide useful data for the future development of either a UK national OH&S management systems specification standard, or for an international standard.

Participating Parties in Writing of OHSAS 18001 OHSAS 18001 has been developed with the assistance of the following co-operating organizations:

National Standards Authority of Ireland
Standards Australia
South African Bureau of Standards
British Standards Institution
Bureau Veritas Quality International
Det Norske Veritas
Lloyds Register Quality Assurance
National Quality Assurance
SFS Certification
SGS Yarsley International Certification Services
Asociacion Espaola de Normalizacion y Certificacion
International Safety Management Organisation Ltd
Standards and Industry Research Institute of Malaysia-Quality Assurance Services
International Certification Services

Documents referenced during the development of this OHSAS specification:

BS 8800:1996 Guide to occupational health and safety management systems Technical Report NPR 5001: 1997 Guide to an occupational health and safety management system SGS & ISMOL ISA 2000:1997 Requirements for Safety and Health Management Systems BVQI SafetyCert: Occupational Safety and Health Management Standard DNV Standard for Certification of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS):1997 Draft NSAI SR 320 Recommendation for an Occupational Health and Safety (OH and S) Management System Draft AS/NZ 4801 Occupational health and safety management systems - Specification with guidance for use Draft BS I PAS 088 Occupational health and safety management systems UNE 81900 series of pre-standards on the Prevention of occupational risks Draft LRQA SMS 8800 Health & safety management systems assessment criteria OHSAS 18001 will supersede some of these referenced documents. OHSAS 18001 maintains a high level of compatibility with, and technical equivalence to:

OHSAS 18001 -- AS/NZ 4801 -- UNE 81900

Thanks and Regards,
Sidney Vianna

[Marc]

This is not really 'quality' related per se, but.....

Subject: Re: ANNOUN: The Dev of the OHSAS Doc /Popovici
Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 12:22:33 -0600
From: ISO Standards Discussion

From: "Popovici, Laurian"
Subject: RE: RE: ANNOUN: The Dev of the OHSAS Doc /Popovici

Message for Sidney or anyone else who may have knowledge on this subject:
Did the OHSAS 18001 get released ? If so, can it be obtained somewhere on
the internet?

Thanks,
Laurian Popovici
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From: "Vianna, Sidney"
OHSAS 18001
Occupational health and safety management systems: - Specification

For some time there has been urgent customer demand for a recognisable occupational health and safety management system specification, for the assessment and certification of OH&S management systems. However, there has been insufficient agreement within the formal standards development processes for the development of a UK national standard, a European standard, or an international standard, in this area (although agreement was eventually reached over the development of BS 8800: 1996 Guide to occupational health and safety management systems).

This has led to the development of a number of OH&S management systems specifications, both by national standards bodies and by independent groups.

DNV, in association with other national standards bodies, certification bodies, and specialist consultancies, has since decided to try and meet this increasingly urgent customer demand, and to try and harmonize the work in this field. This has resulted in the development of this Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) Specification, OHSAS 18001. This standard will be offically released in the UK in April 99.

It is stressed that OHSAS 18001 is not a UK national nor International standard and certification can still only be done on a non-accredited bases.

OHSAS 18001 has not been developed through the formal standards development process. Instead, it has been developed by a process that is open to other sponsors wishing to produce similar types of documents in association with BSI, provided that those sponsors are willing to comply with BSI's conditions for such documents. Most of BSI's conditions only apply to the UK.

An accompanying publication, OHSAS 18002 Guidelines for the implementation of OHSAS 18001, is also under development and will be published shortly (June 99). OHSAS 18001 has been developed to be compatible with the IS0 9001: 1994 (Quality) and IS0 14001: 1996 (Environmental) management systems standards, in order to facilitate the integration of quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management systems by organizations, should they wish to do so.

It is hoped that the application of OHSAS 18001 may provide useful data for the future development of either a UK national OH&S management systems specification standard, or for an international standard.

Participating Parties in Writing of OHSAS 18001 OHSAS 18001 has been developed with the assistance of the following co-operating organizations:

National Standards Authority of Ireland
Standards Australia
South African Bureau of Standards
British Standards Institution
Bureau Veritas Quality International
Det Norske Veritas
Lloyds Register Quality Assurance
National Quality Assurance
SFS Certification
SGS Yarsley International Certification Services
Asociacion Espaola de Normalizacion y Certificacion
International Safety Management Organisation Ltd
Standards and Industry Research Institute of Malaysia-Quality
Assurance Services
International Certification Services

Documents referenced during the development of this OHSAS
specification:

BS 8800:1996 Guide to occupational health and safety management systems
Technical Report NPR 5001: 1997 Guide to an occupational health and
safety management system
SGS & ISMOL ISA 2000:1997 Requirements for Safety and Health
Management Systems
BVQI SafetyCert: Occupational Safety and Health Management Standard
DNV Standard for Certification of Occupational Health and Safety
Management Systems (OHSMS):1997
Draft NSAI SR 320 Recommendation for an Occupational Health and Safety
(OH and S) Management System
Draft AS/NZ 4801 Occupational health and safety management systems -
Specification with guidance for use
Draft BS I PAS 088 Occupational health and safety management systems
UNE 81900 series of pre-standards on the Prevention of occupational
risks
Draft LRQA SMS 8800 Health & safety management systems assessment
criteria

OHSAS 18001 will supersede some of these referenced documents. OHSAS 18001 maintains a high level of compatibility with, and technical equivalence to:

AS/NZ 4801
UNE 81900

Thanks and Regards,
Sidney Vianna

[Don Winton]

From DNV:

"OHSAS 18001 was created by a number of certification organisations to address the need for a universally applicable and externally verifiable system for safety management. It provides a structured basis for coordinating efforts in health and safety, demonstrating compliance and managing risk."

A search at Alta Vista for "OHSAS 18001" generated 28 pages, most of which I found useless. I suspect this is too new.

Regards,
Don

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Just the ramblings of an Old Wizard Warrior.

[David Mullins]

This standard appears to be linked to Det Norske Veritas (DNV). They are the agents of such beasts as the International Safety Rating System and international Environmental Rating System. Apparently over 5000 companies already have endorsed/certified systems under the ISRS program.
I too am seeking information on these topics, and will be approaching DNV for HELP. They are at http://www.dnv.com/
If anyone else can shed more light my bandwidth is waiting.

[David Mullins]

By way of a summary of the standard:

REQUIREMENTS OF THE STANDARD
The structure of OHSAS 18001 is in line with the current models for management systems and consists of six sections:

1.General Requirements
This section stipulates that the organisation must establish and maintain an OH&S management system.

2.OH&S Policy
An OH&S policy statement must be produced. It must be appropriate to the organisation and specify a commitment to health and safety.

3.Planning
The organisation must formulate an action plan, with clearly documented procedures to fulfil its OH&S policy.

4.Implementation and Operation
Necessary capabilities and support mechanisms must be developed to achieve the objectives and targets within the organisation's OH&S policy.

5.Checking and Corrective Action
OH&S performance must be measured, monitored and evaluated.

6.Management Review
The standard requires the organisation to review and continually improve its OH&S management system, with the objective of improving its overall safety performance.

This looks like a walk in the park compared to the 3 different systems I have implemented. At the end of the day, all safety systems are aimed at achieving, as a minimum, compliance to relevant Occupational Health & safety legislation.
I HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEBODY!

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[Randy]

I heard about this possibly being batted around the ISO world as ISO 18000.

It could create a lot of problems that would even exceed ISO 14000 when it comes to disclosure, documentation, corrective action and other things.

When a standard or potential standard starts overlapping OSHA requirements like we have here in the states the ramifications towards liability of business and management becomes horrendous.

Most US business's that don't want anything to do with ISO 14000 are influenced by the fact that all documents can be inspected by the EPA, who in their infinite wisdom may not accept that organizations corrective actions, aspects, identified impacts, and numerous other thing which are id'd under ISO 14000, thus subjecting them to massive fines and criminal prosecution.

I am an EHS professional. I work with this stuff every day. The concept of a safety management standard is good just like an environmental standard, it's just that here in the US it may be deadly towards business.

Something like this wouldn't be too voluntary. It would really be customer driven, and probably fought all the way by some.

[Randy]

OK guys I have some new info on this topic and need some help.

I was recently interviewed by a prospective new employer who is deeply involved with the ISRS as developed by DNV. The ISRS "International Safety Rating System" is something of a mystery to me and I really want to find out about it because that may give me an edge over the other candidates.

Other than my job prospects, I can certify that US based companies are involved with getting certified under this European management system. I saw the evidence myself.

[This message has been edited by Randy (edited 28 January 2000).]

[David Mullins]

ISRS is like a 600 item compliance checklist.
The exact contents are unkown to me, but if you check out the Det Norske Veritas site at:
http://www.dnv.com/
you can identify your nearest DNV office around the globe.
Ask them all about it!
Cheers.


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