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goetzkluge
Of course OHSAS 18001 isn't an official international standard. There had been some attempts though to get there. I think, once ISO 45001 is ready, many companies will move from OHSAS 18001 to ISO 45001 - and the consultants as well as the certification bodies will enjoy more business.
I also like ILO-OSH. One important feature of ILO-OSH: It's free! Any employee in a company can read it in the internet. In contrary to that, employees in OHSAS 18001 (ISO 45001 etc.) certified companies have to pass some hurdles to read about their employer's commitments in copyrighted standards. The lack of such hurdles may be one of the many reasons why employers do not feel comfortable with ILO-OSH.
This is a problem, because I know of OH&S management manuals where employers did everything not to make the paragraph 4.4.3.2 "Participation and consultation" of OHSAS 18001:2007 known to their employees. ISO 45001 won't solve that problem. Worse, the certification boddies take sides: The employers are their customers, not the employees. (Exception: Dutch certification bodies who use the SCCM scheme for audits also let the employees participate in audits in a systematical way. See also: annex 6, page 57-58 in "O11-SCCM_N110830_cert.schema_OHSAS_18001_ENG_7Feb13")
The solution to that problem: At least the employees' representatives should know the OH&S management standard very well by which their sites are certified. They also should know the SCCM, as their audit scheme shows, that balanced audits are possible.
Sadly, many companies still managed to deter employees from founding a works council. That is illegal in my country (Germany), but it still happens often enough. And for the lucky ones (employees) who are represented by a works council, many works councils are afraid to dig into such "complex" standards, even though e.g. OHSAS 18002:2008 is an excellent and easy to understand textbook on OH&S management.
I hope that the spirit of ILO-OSH will live on in ISO 45001 too - if the unions who participate in developing the standard do a good job. The BSI even provides a table which shows, that OHSAS 18001 is strongly influenced by ILO-OSH. ILO-OSH at least will serve as a good banchmark for ISO 45001.
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Henria is absolutely correct in all areas and OHSAS 18001 certifications are meaningless exercises that escape validation and worth
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LyndaK
Thanks Stijloor, the link to that information is clear on the progression to ISO 45001
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BSMITH
I have a couple of comments to recent posts: (1) I believe that the introduction to OHSAS 18001 states that it will be cancelled once ISO issues an occupational health and safety standard; and (2) Even though OHSAS 18001 can't be termed an international standard in the same sense that ISO standards can, it certainly can be termed a "multi-national" standard since 15 or more countries have adopted it as their national standard. The U.S.'s national standard, ANZI Z10, has been an utter failure, this the U.S. support for the developing ISO 45001 standard.
And the irony is that the US representatives rallied very strongly against an ISO OHSMS standard for many years, voting it down, twice.With the very limited penetration of the ANSI Z10 and over 100,000 organizations certified to OHSAS 18001 around the World, it seems that they (the opposing countries) have capitulated. Another proof of how "political" standards development has become.
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goetzkluge
The "capitulation" may be a political strategy too: As OHSAS 18001 turned out to be accepted in more and more countries, the "opposing countries" now could try to get it replaced by a "softer" standard. If they can't fight it, they at least could try to weaken OH&S requirements in ISO 45001. In Germany I know of an OHSAS 18001 certified company, who tried to avoid that employees and their representatives know too much about clause 4.4.3.2 "Participation and consultation". The certification body looked the other way.
In the German version of the audited English OH&S manual that company also tried to tinker with the definitions 3.8 "ill health" and 3.9 "incident" a bit. The certification body looked the other way again. In the OH&S manual of that company, the accredited external auditors of their certifier even tolerated OHSAS 18001:1999 definitions until 2012. Thanks to employee representatives (and not thanks to the certifier), only recently the employees leaned, that the term "incident" includes events which cause ill health, not regarding the severity of that state of ill health. Until 2012 only accidents were reported. The certifier didn't mind.
I fear, that employer (together with their certifier) hopes that ISO 45001 will be "softer" on the employer. That may be the reason for that employer now to avoid to refer to OHSAS 18001 in agreements with their works councils (who, to the surprise of the employer, gradually learned how to work with OHSAS 18001) although that employer proudly uses the certification for employer branding and for looking good in the eyes of the government authorities.
In that company, implementing the OHSAS 18001:2007 requirements (especially in mental workload management) drags along extremely slowly since early 2013. Perhaps that company rather wants to wait for ISO 45001 in 2017.
Conclusion: Don't forget about OHSAS 18001. In contrary, learn more about OHSAS 18002:2008 in order to understand and to evaluate the coming ISO 45001.
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BSMITH
I had heard that the U.S. voted down the development of an ISO standard on OH&S twice because of their opposition to OHSAS 18001; they were afraid that a standard developed primarily by certification bodies would become an ISO standard without full development and full participation by ANSI. The end result initially was a separate U.S. ANSI Z-10 standard and a similar one for Canada. If I heard correctly, ANSI Z-10 was a failure primarily because it required that all accidents had to be made public information. I purchased ANSI Z-10 and found it more prescriptive than OHSAS 18001 in some ways and less prescriptive in others. That standard was interesting in that it included the elements on the left page and guidance on those elements on the right page.
As far as the new standard possibly being watered down from OHSAS 18001 relative to employee participation and consultation, if ANSI and OSHA have any influence in ISO 45001:2016, I don't see that happening. For that matter, I can see that element becoming more prescriptive.
As far as the new standard possibly being watered down from OHSAS 18001 relative to employee participation and consultation, if ANSI and OSHA have any influence in ISO 45001:2016, I don't see that happening. For that matter, I can see that element becoming more prescriptive.
Claes Gefvenberg
Admin
Well... Not to make too fine a point on it, we did exactly the opposite, by making one of our union reps part of the task group when we went for registration. It worked out truly well, not least due to the fact that he had a lot to add to the effort. Oh, and cooperation between the company and the unions concerning H&S is also an item on our Management Review agenda. I.e, this very fruitful cooperation is still very active and intended to stay that way.
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BSMITH
Your experience with employee participation is similar to what I have seen among my customers, as a Certification Body Auditor. My first audits were ISO 14001 audits and many companies were using their existing employee Safety Committees to implement ISO 14001 and to enhance communication for ES&H. My OHSAS 18001 customers also heavily involve employees in defining Job Hazard or Job Safety Analyses.
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