CG Business Consulting

OHSAS 18001: Health & Safety Management System

CG Business Consulting Limited specialises in turnkey consultancy which will enable your company to achieve certification to the OHSAS 18001: 2007 Health and Safety Management System.

What is OHSAS 18001:2007

OHSAS 18001 is generally accepted to all intents and purposes as the most robust Occupational Health and Safety Management System available to companies. OSHAS 18001 was originally prepared as a proposed ISO standard but it has never had the formal recognition as a national or international standard. Despite this OHSAS is internationally accepted as the Health and Safety equivalent as what ISO 9001 is to Quality and ISO 14001 is to the Environment. In fact OHSAS 18001 was developed in response to a demand to a Health and Safety Management System that can be integrated with 9001 and 14001.

Why OHSAS 18001?

With the introduction of the 2005 Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act Irish employers are being placed under increased pressures to manage their activities in an approach that effectively maintains a safer workplace by anyone affected by their activities or operations which include contractors, customers, visitors and the public. Considerable fines and in extreme circumstances jail terms are now penalties that employers can face from poor Health and Safety Management. The 2005 SHWW Act places the legal responsibility for Health and Safety firmly on the shoulders of top management and then allows this accountability to filter through the chain of command.

Currently further pressures are being placed on companies from large customers, suppliers, government and corporate bodies to effectively demonstrate a capable Safety Management System. In today’s environment this is even more evident with increased competitiveness in the market companies are turning to Management Systems such as OHSAS 18001 as a means for ensuring competence in the companies they do business with as required by the SHWW Act 2005.

Benefits of OHSAS 18001

OHSAS 18001 was built along the same lines as ISO management systems that emphasize effectiveness, efficiency and continual improvement from a management system. It focuses on the fundamental requirements based on the highly successful “plan-do-check-act” method.

Benefits include:

Company is in an elite category of business and internationally recognised. OHSAS 18001 puts your organization on level of excellence shared by organizations worldwide.

Satisfies demands of current or prospective customers for registration. Superior pool of clients that accept competent and perspective businesses.

Increased acceptance by regulators, the public, and interested parties. Accepted as being proactive about Health and Safety and and continual improvement.

Improves business performance. A well designed, well implemented OHSAS health/safety management system reduces workplace illness and injury and increase productivity.

Creates consistency throughout the organization built around "best practices".

Provides a platform for attracting lower insurance premiums and proves due diligence to the marketplace

Allows better identification of hazards and risk.

Ensures compliance with all current legislation worldwide.

Improves the efficiency of internal operations, reduces accidents, dangers, and downtime.

Improves safety of all persons affected by the companies activities.

Improves management oversight. Incorporates monitoring and measurement of key performance indicators in health/safety. This gives management objective data upon which to base decisions.

Internal auditing is an "early warning system" to help you spot health/safety threats – giving you the chance to address and resolve them before they are detected by others, rather than after.

Facilitates continual improvement. Employee morale, insurance costs, liability, etc. not to mention simple human concern for the welfare of others -- nothing in a business is more important than improving health/safety performance.

Transforms your operation from detection mode to prevention mode.

The benefits to Implementing OHSAS 18001 are endless and when implemented correctly it provides the company with an effective tool that will show return on investment. With continued increases in insurance premiums, increased injury claims and spiralling health care costs the question companies need to ask themselves is can they afford not to implement OHSAS 18001.