AIAG - OHSAS 18001 Certification May Not Be Money Well Spent

[Stijloor]

Friends,

From AIAG.....

The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) firmly believes that the use of formal management systems’ are necessary for the effective management of health safety and environmental programs, and thus fully endorse ANSI Z10 and International Organization of Standardization (ISO) programs such as ISO's 14001 environmental management standard.* We believe that management of safety and health as part of an existing management system is necessary to achieve overall HSE excellence.

We believe that the management of health & safety under the BSI OHSAS 18001 program is good practice, but less efficient in terms of both cost and time, as compared to managing health & safety as part of an existing management system. This is fundamental to making safety and health integrated within existing management systems and part of the day-to-day business activities.

In conclusion, AIAG:

• believes that the International Labor Organization (ILO); OHSMS Guidelines of 2001 provide a sound basis for any nation or organization to develop an effective safety and health management system
• is concerned when entities such as BSI issue 'standards' utilizing a numbering sequence that at the very least confuses many into believing the standard was issued by ISO, and
• will work to integrate health & safety programs within a comprehensive and effective management system, but will not specifically mandate OHSAS 18001certification.

* Some member companies certify their environmental programs to ISO 14001 and other management systems, such as ISO-9001, while concurrently receiving a letter of conformance from the registrar advising that health & safety is managed in conformance with ISO 14001/9001 at no additional cost. In addition to reducing costs within the supply chain, this approach is arguably more effective in that a single management system is utilized to manage all HSE activities, so only a single system need be maintained and continually improved over time.

[Jennifer Kirley]

BSI-OHSAS 18001 (1999) has been superceded by the OHSAS Project Group OHSAS 18001:2007.

[qualityboi]

Originally Posted by Stijloor

Friends,

From AIAG.....

This is fundamental to making safety and health integrated within existing management systems and part of the day-to-day business activities.

Well shoot if everything was integrated into the management system, quality and environmental as well, we wouldn't ever have any problems! The day we can trust folks to follow a standard, is the day I am out of a job ~ The fox in the hen's house is a revolving door...

[Paul Simpson]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Kirley

BSI-OHSAS 18001 (1999) has been superceded by the OHSAS Project Group OHSAS 18001:2007.

Thanks, Jennifer - who is the OHSAS Project Group?

[Paul Simpson]

Originally Posted by Stijloor

We believe that the management of health & safety under the BSI OHSAS 18001 program is good practice, but less efficient in terms of both cost and time, as compared to managing health & safety as part of an existing management system.

Where do they get their data from, I wonder?

Originally Posted by Stijloor

In conclusion, AIAG:

• believes that the International Labor Organization (ILO); OHSMS Guidelines of 2001 provide a sound basis for any nation or organization to develop an effective safety and health management system
• is concerned when entities such as BSI issue 'standards' utilizing a numbering sequence that at the very least confuses many into believing the standard was issued by ISO, and
• will work to integrate health & safety programs within a comprehensive and effective management system, but will not specifically mandate OHSAS 18001certification.

• Now it is my understanding that ILO requirements are included in OHSAS - can anyone correct me if I am wrong
• What is AIAG's role in deciding what BSI does? Their point may be valid about the confusion in numbering though.

[Stijloor]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for quoting me...but I was just passing on the AIAG article...

I claim innocence...

Stijloor.

[Sidney Vianna]

Originally Posted by Stijloor

* Some member companies certify their environmental programs to ISO 14001 and other management systems, such as ISO-9001, while concurrently receiving a letter of conformance from the registrar advising that health & safety is managed in conformance with ISO 14001/9001 at no additional cost. In addition to reducing costs within the supply chain, this approach is arguably more effective in that a single management system is utilized to manage all HSE activities, so only a single system need be maintained and continually improved over time.

I can only infer that this is another sign of the jockeying for position amongst industry standards for OHSMS...But I am not sure of how to read this last paragraph...

Originally Posted by Jennifer Kirley

BSI-OHSAS 18001 (1999) has been superceded by the OHSAS Project Group OHSAS 18001:2007.

BS OHSAS 18001:2007 is a British Standard, published by BSI (the Standards Body) and was a collective work by a group of stakeholders.

[Randy]

Wellllllllllllllllll, here we go again.

1st.........ANSI Z10 is an American Standard for OHSMS not an International one

2nd........ILO OHS Guidlines are just that guidelines...you see the word "SHOULD" not shall and we all know what should means I hope

3rd...Here are the folks that put OHSAS 18001:2007 together and you'll see that it wasn't BSI alone....

Acknowledgement

This edition of OHSAS 18001 has been developed with the assistance of the
following cooperating organizations:

American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)
Asociación Española de Normalización y Certificación (AENOR)
Association of British Certification Bodies (ABCB)
British Standards Institution (BSI)
Bureau Veritas
Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), (Gerencia de la seguridad industrial)
Czech Accreditation Institute (CAI)
Det Norske Veritas (DNV)
DS Certification A/S
EEF the manufacturers’ organisation
ENLAR Compliance Services, Inc.
Health and Safety Executive1)
Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA)
Inspecta Certification
Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH)
Instituto Argentino de Normalización y Certificación (IRAM)
Instituto Colombiano de Normas Técnicas y Certificación (ICONTEC)
Instituto de Normas Técnicas de Costa Rica (INTECO)
Instituto Mexicano de Normalización y Certificación (IMNC)
Instituto Uruguayo de Normas Técnicas (UNIT)
ITS Consultants
Japan Industrial Safety and Health Association (JISHA)
Japanese Standards Association (JSA)
Korea Gas Safety Corporation (ISO Certificate Division)
Lloyds Register Quality Assurance (LRQA)
Management Systems Certification Limited
National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI)
National University of Singapore (NUS)
Nederlands Normalisatie-instituut (NEN)
NPKF ELECTON
NQA
Quality Management Institute (QMI)
SABS Commercial (Pty) Ltd.
Service de Normalisation Industrielle Marocaine (SNIMA)
SGS United Kingdom Ltd
SIRIM QAS International
SPRING Singapore
Standards Institution of Israel (SII)
Standards New Zealand (SNZ)
Sucofindo International Certification Services (SICS)
Swedish Industry Association (Sinf)
TÜV Rheinland Cert GmbH – TÜV Rheinland Group
Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ)

4th.....Here is information about the working group.......

OHSAS Project Group
The OHSAS Project Group is an international association of national standards
bodies, certification, accreditation bodies, occupational health and safety institutes, industry associations, consulting organizations and government agencies.

I'd almost bet Sidney's paycheck (gotta be larger than mine) that AIAG is in cahoots somehow with ANSI over this because the Z10 has not really gained the attention or recognition to justify the effort taken to put it together

5th........The ILO-OHS document is numbered as well just like 18001 is, just different numbers

I'd like to know who the AIAG experts are. Probably experts in risk management and OHS

So what is more palatable on the global stage, an American OHS standard or a real international one?