Loading...
OHSAS 18001
Welcome to our area devoted to the OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety standard with separate sections covering its history, the benefits of certification and what it costs to become certified.OHSAS 18001 is for all organisations large or small and covers all sectors. The standard is designed to clarify an organisation's impact on health and safety issues, as well as help to reduce the risk of accidents and any breach in legal requirements.
In summary...
Whilst many wish to achieve OHSAS 18001 certification in order to qualify for a tender or to achieve preferred supplier status, many other benefits can be derived from implementing an internationally recognised health and safety standard.
An effective occupational health and safety management system promotes a safe and healthy working environment by providing a framework that allows your organisation to identify and control its health and safety risks, reduce the potential for accidents, aid legislative compliance and improve overall performance.
In a competitive market, your customers are looking for more than just keen pricing. Organisations need to demonstrate that their delivery is managed efficiently and responsibly, and that they can provide a reliable service free of the downtime associated with work-related accidents and incidents. With research showing that 70% of accidents are caused by failures in the management of health and safety systems, OHSAS 18001 provides a cost effective and well respected solution.
Quantified research into the benefits of implementing the standard found that 52% of certified organisations saw a large or significant improvement in regulatory compliance, whilst 32% saw a decrease in overall costs of accidents and 17% found insurance premiums also decreased. As a result, justifying OHSAS 18001 is an easy decision for many.
With many health and safety standards around, OHSAS 18001 has emerged as the preferred option since being launched in 1999. The main advantage of OHSAS 18001 over alternatives is that its structure is very similar to ISO’s management system standards, such as ISO 14001. Therefore, anyone familiar with an ISO standard would be immediately comfortable working with OHSAS 18001.
Protecting your workforce and complying with legislation is a main concern for today's organizations. HTP Technology helps the customers from initiation of the occupational health and safety management system development till certification to BS OHSAS 18001. Following 12-step process describes the high level approach to implementation and certification.
If you are new to the OHSAS 18001 standard you are probably going to need some guidance. We are able to provide customised, in-house training and you'll also find some helpful articles on our website containing generic hints and tips. When you're ready, we’ll discuss your certification requirements with you and provide a competitive quotation so you can budget accurately. Your quotation will be based upon factors such as your organisation's activities, how many locations you operate from and how many people you employ.
Once you decide to proceed, we'll assign a HTP Consultant to you. He or she will be your principal contact throughout the registration process and beyond. They will build up detailed knowledge of your organisation and will be able to answer any questions you might have. Many of our clients start with a Pre-assessment. This optional service is where we review your current circumstances as part of a Gap Analysis and agree an action plan with you.
Your HTP Consultant will visit you to explain the standard and undertake a conformity assessment of your current arrangements for occupational health and safety management. You will then receive a detailed report including all required actions. Together, you will then determine the appropriate timetable for your Audit Assessment.
Once you are ready for your formal Audit Assessment, your HTP Consultant will make the required arrangements for you. On completion, you will be informed of the Auditor's recommendation before he or she leaves your premises.
Following the Auditor's recommendation, your registration will be reviewed and if approved your certification will be confirmed. Soon after, your certificate of conformity to the ISO 14001 standard will be issued and sent to you.
Having achieved certification, you'll want to maintain your registration and your Lead Assessor will remain on hand to undertake the required annual reviews to ensure you continue to meet the requirements of OHSAS 18001.
We work with clients of all sizes and even if you are a one person business, we can help you. With no long term contract to tie you in, we provide an affordable, transparent route to achieving OHSAS 18001 certification. Ultimately, your quotation will be based on factors such as your organisation’s activities, how many locations you operate from and how many people you employ (if any). We provide all of our clients with a competitive quotation with no hidden extras. We won’t charge you extra for travel, registration fees or for your certificate (unlike many others).
The OHSAS 18001 standard was developed to bridge the gap where no international standard existed for occupational health and safety. Development involved input from a number of leading bodies, including certifiers, trade bodies and expert consultancies.
The first version of the standard appeared in 1999 and was based on a number of existing standards (including BS8800:1996) that had been developed by the leading national certification bodies.The current version of the standard is OHSAS 18001:2007. This supersedes OHSAS 18001:1999, which was phased out in July 2009.
Despite not currently being an ISO standard, OHSAS 18001 has been designed to be compatible with the ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001 (Environmental) standards, thus helping organisations to achieve an integrated management strategy. In 2016, a new Health and Safety Management System standard called ISO 45001 is expected to be published - this will then supersede OHSAS 18001.The OHSAS 18001 standard specifies a number of key criteria for an organisation to demonstrate and includes:
