Auditor wants to review our OHSAS 18001 Implementation Programme

[EllenW]

Hello,

We are being audited next week to 18001 and I noticed on the schedule for the day the auditor wants to review our implementation programme.

Not being familiar with being audited for 18001 I am wondering exactly what they will want to see.

We have a program I could explain as in daily when we have job use these checklists and yearly we do risk assessments etc etc

The term programme does suggest they are looking for project plan for the year with dates etc - is this a correct interpretation?

We have implementation plans for objectives - but somehow obviously missed we needed one for whole system! Is it an actual requirement?

Advise kindly received quickly as will need to put something together asap if need to bring all together in formal document :mg:

Thanks in anticipation, Ellen

 

[somashekar]

Hello,

We are being audited next week to 18001 and I noticed on the schedule for the day the auditor wants to review our implementation programme.

Not being familiar with being audited for 18001 I am wondering exactly what they will want to see.

We have a program I could explain as in daily when we have job use these checklists and yearly we do risk assessments etc etc

The term programme does suggest they are looking for project plan for the year with dates etc - is this a correct interpretation?

We have implementation plans for objectives - but somehow obviously missed we needed one for whole system! Is it an actual requirement?

Advise kindly received quickly as will need to put something together asap if need to bring all together in formal document :mg:

Thanks in anticipation, Ellen

The OHSAS is built on the typical PDCA cycle taking off on continual improvement.
Within the DO of the PDCA is the implementation and operation, which is in the clause 4.4 of the OHSAS 18001:2007
How strong is your 4.4 ?
What can you demonstrate about the 4.4.1 till 4.4.7 ?

 

[kgott]

Hello,

We are being audited next week to 18001 and I noticed on the schedule for the day the auditor wants to review our implementation programme.

Not being familiar with being audited for 18001 I am wondering exactly what they will want to see.

We have a program I could explain as in daily when we have job use these checklists and yearly we do risk assessments etc etc

The term programme does suggest they are looking for project plan for the year with dates etc - is this a correct interpretation?

We have implementation plans for objectives - but somehow obviously missed we needed one for whole system! Is it an actual requirement?

Advise kindly received quickly as will need to put something together asap if need to bring all together in formal document :mg:

Thanks in anticipation, Ellen

I'm not sure what they mean by an implementation program nor can I think of why they want to see an implementation plan but if you want to show them a plan do a Gnatt type plan using MS Project or if you dont have that use MS Excel, otheriwse wite it out in MS Word or on a piece of paper in bullet point form with some planned dates in it.

I have'nt yet had access to ISO 18001 or 2 so I havent read it but unless it mentions the need for a plan or some legislation requires an OH&S implemention plan to be developed, then I would ask them to 'show me the shall" that says I must have a documented plan.

 

[Randy]

The auditor wants to know what you planned and what you did? Irrelevant

He needs to tend to his business of looking how you plan to manage OHS performance and improvement (future), but not at your initial planning (past). Your initial plan may have changed 100 times. Everything prior to what you claim to be the initial start of your management system is out of bounds. If you say that your system start is 30 Aug, what you did on 29 Aug doesn't exist. There may be some records that will circumvent your "start" but they will be the exception and not the rule.

I'm looking at 18001 right now and what I see is "how is it planned to perform" and nothing about "how did they plan to do it in the 1st place"

I have never, not one single time asked to see the implementation planning because plans are only good up to the time you start doing them and then they change.

 

[Colin]

Ellen, is this the stage 1 or stage 2 audit they are coming to do next week?

If it is stage 1 they may just want to get a feel for how the system was planned, what processes you went through to design and implement the system to help them understand your logic.

If it is stage 2, I agree with the previous answers, there should be no reason for asking that question. If it is stage 1, I wouldn't prepare anything specifically. As has been pointed out by others, 18001 does not have a requirement to provide this evidence. If they ask, just give them an overview of how you went about the project.

 

[Randy]

Colin is pretty much right on. I'll ask, how did you plan to do it, but your answer carries no weight towards the outcome. I've got 17021 open in front of me right now and neither Stage 1 nor Stage 2 require looking at the implementation plan for evidence other than for looking back at resource allocation and stuff like that. But timelines, meetings, scratchings on napkins.......Naaaaaa, an auditor doesn't have the time for that tripe, dribble and non-essential trivia...He's got real stuff to do and initial implimentation planning isn't in the equation, because if it was it would have been addressed in both the standard itself and in the 17021 as a specific element for certification in section 9