Iso 18001

In this report we will look at how the LaingOrourke Safety Management System (SMS) meets the criteria of; OHSAS 18001 and how the LaingOrourke SMS policy can also be mapped across it.

In the mapping document (see below in file two) I have laid out in the first column the 18001 clauses; in the second column I have laid out what the clause is. In the third column I have laid out the section of the SMS that matches the criteria of 18001, the fourth column identifies what is in that section of the SMS to correspond to it. The fifth column shows how the LaingOrourke Health and Safety Policy comply with the relevant sections of 18001.

Throughout the mapping I have identified in Bold where the LaingOrourke SMS and their policy comply with OHSAS 18001, I have also added in where secondary references meet the requirements also, (not in bold)

It is very important that companies have suitable and sufficient SMS that details their commitment to the Health and Safety of their employees, companies have a moral, humane and legal duty to do it, the reasons for monitoring and reviewing is because there is a legal requirement to do so under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Reducing the human and financial costs of accidents and the loss of public image of the organization.

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Prior to OHSAS 18001, HS (G) 65 was used to ascertain if British businesses SMS were suitable and sufficient, this gave the safety professional a sort of systematic and methodical approach to gauge how a business that he was advising or auditing were managing the business of health and Safety.

HSG 65 is readily recognizable as the "Five Steps to Successful Health and Safety Management HS (G) 65" published by the 'Health and Safety Executive.

1. Set your policy.

2. Organize the staff.

3. Plan and set standards.

4. Measure the performance.

5. Audit and review - learn from experience.

But within British businesses there was no way to obtain confidence in their systems like the confidence that they felt they had in ISO 9001 quality and ISO 14001 Environmental auditing.

On both these ISO's there were the benefits of being audited by an independent third party and certification to prove that the organization was meeting the standards, as a response to this Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001 (OHSAS 18001) was published as a BSI specification in 1999. The full title of the document was Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems - Specification.

This was issued as a Certifiable specification by BSI which means that third party bodies could audit companies and issue certificates based on assessment, importantly as the format is similar to 9001 and 14001 and integrated audit could be undertaken of all three management systems covering quality, environment and health and safety.

ISO 18001 took a long time to become a recognised standard against which British SMS could be assessed and certified. Since its publication many organizations have had their health and safety systems assessed and certified. Anyone who is used to being audited for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 will soon see the parallels with ISO 18001 such as Management review, internal audits, records, document control and so forth.

In section 4.5.2 of OHSAS 18001 Accidents, incidents nonconformances and corrective and preventative action are addressed, the LaingORourke SMS mirrors the requirements in section twelve of their SMS.

The requirements are that the organization shall establish and maintain procedures for defining responsibility and authority for,

* A) The handling and investigation of:

o Accident

o Incidents

o Nonconformance's

The LaingORourke SMS address's this by the use of investigational forms, such as the 12a 12b and the 12 c (see below in file three) the 12a is an interim initial notification form, this form can be used to let the Safety department know immediately that there was an accident or incident occurrence, in LaingORourke an incident is defined in the same way that 18001 defines it "Incident: by definition is event that gave rise to an accident or had the potential to lead to an accident."

"Note: an incident where no ill health, injury damage, or other loss occurs it is also