Health & Safety OHSAS 18001

Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Specification OHSAS 18001:1999 is now OHSAS 18001:2007

The British Standards Institution (BSI) is pleased to announce that the internationally recognized consortium specification for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, OHSAS 18001:1999 has been updated to become OHSAS 18001:2007.

OHSAS 18001:2007 Occupational health and safety management systems - Requirements specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system, to enable an organization to control its OH&S risks and improve its performance.

The standard was first published by the OHSAS Project Group as a specification in 1999. Since then there have been 16,000 certifications to the standard in over 80 countries. Feedback from this broad community of users has been incorporated into the updated standard to strengthen its applicability. The new standard places greater emphasis on "health" rather than just "safety". It is more logically laid out to assist organizations in the management of their occupational health and safety risks, offering significantly better alignment with the environmental management system standard ISO 14001:2004 and quality management system standard ISO 9000:2000. This makes it easier for organizations to harmonize and have one integrated management system in accordance with PAS 99.

For those organizations that have already achieved certification to OHSAS 18001:1999, or are in the final stages of achieving it, a two year "transition" period ending on July 1st 2009 has been agreed, in order to allow them to make the change to the new standard.

The sister standard OHSAS 18002:2000 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems - Guidelines for the implementation of OHSAS 18001 is presently under review by the OHSAS Project Group to bring it into alignment with the new standard, but still offers valuable advice on achieving compliance to organizations wishing to implement the new standard.

BSI Management Systems provides professional training, assessment and certification services for OHSAS 18001 and associated country level standards worldwide.

Summary of key changes between OHSAS 18001:2007 and OHSAS 18001:1999:

The importance of "health" has now been given greater emphasis.
OHSAS 18001 now refers to itself as a standard, not a specification, or document, as in the earlier edition. This reflects the increasing adoption of OHSAS 18001 as the basis for national standards on occupational health and safety management systems.
The "Plan-Do-Check-Act" model diagram is only given in the Introduction, in its entirety, and not also as sectional diagrams at the start of each major clause.
Reference publications in Clause 2 have been limited to purely international documents.
New definitions have been added, and existing definitions revised.
Significant improvement in alignment with ISO 14001:2004 throughout the standard; and improved compatibility with ISO 9001:2000.
A new requirement has been introduced for the consideration of the hierarchy of controls as part of OH&S planning
Management of change is now more explicitly addressed
A new clause on the "Evaluation of compliance" has been introduced, as per ISO 14001:2004
New requirements have been introduced for participation and consultation
New requirements have been introduced for the investigation of incidents

OHSAS 18001:2007 Occupational health and safety management systems is available from your local BSI office or can be ordered directly from the BSI website at www.bsi-global.com/OHSAS18001

Price £50*, Member Price £25

For more information about health and safety standards and management systems certification please visit http://www.bsi-global.com/en/Assessment-and-certification-services/management-systems/Standards-and-Schemes/BSOHSAS-18001/

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