Safety & Health According to OHSAS 18001 Context
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Safety & Health according to OHSAS 18001 Context Styliadis Theodore Department of Maritime Studies University of Piraeus Today’s agenda . Introduction . Towards the development of OHSMS & standards- OHSAS 18000 Series . OHSAS 18001 management system requirements . OHSAS 18001 Implementation & operation requirements . OHSAS 18001 corrective actions requirements . Conclusions Definitions • Hazard: source or situation with a potential to cause harm in terms of injury or ill health, damage to property, damage to the workplace environment or a combination of these • Hazard identification: the process of recognizing that a hazard exists and defining its characteristics • Risk: combination of the likelihood and consequences/severity of a specified hazardous event occurring. • Risk assessment: overall process of estimating the magnitude of risk and deciding whether or not the risk is tolerable • Risk control: measures that eliminate or reduce the risk associated with hazards • Accident: undesired event giving rise to death, ill health, injury, damage or other loss • Incident: event that gave rise to an accident or had the potential to lead to an accident • Safety: freedom from unacceptable risk of harm • Occupational health & safety: conditions and factors that effect the well being of employees, temporary workers and other persons in the workplace • Audit: systematic examination to determine whether activities and related results conform the planned arrangements and whether these arrangements are implemented effectively and are suitable for achieving the organization’s policy objectives • Non conformance: any deviation from working standards, practices, procedures, regulations, management system performance etc, that could either directly or indirectly lead to injury or illness, property damage, damage to workplace environment or combination of these • Continual improvement: recurring process of enhancing the OH&S Management system in order to achieve improvements in overall OH&S performance consistent with organization’s OH&S policy • Corrective action: action to eliminate the cause of a detected non conformity or other undesirable situation • OH&S Management System: part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement its OH&S policy and manage its OH&S risks. • OH&S policy OH&S performance: measurable results of an organization’s management of its OH&S risks 3 Introduction • Globalization of the economy has intensified over the recent years and, together with the development of enhanced information and telecommunications technology, it is bringing about radical changes in society, comparable to those produced during the industrial revolution. • One of the most important impacts that economic integration and the liberalization of international trade have had on occupational health and safety, is undoubtedly that of the harmonization of standards. • A standard is a guideline document that reflects agreements on products, practices or operations, by recognized government, industry or professional bodies or trade associations. A standard provides requirements, specifications, guidelines or characteristics that can be used consistently to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose. • Occupational safety and health cannot ignore those changes. And, in this context, the greatest challenge for the countries is the transformation of the difficulties involved in adapting and transforming the new situations into opportunities for the future development of occupational safety and health. • Organizations of all kinds as well as shipping & logistics companies are increasingly concerned with achieving and demonstrating sound occupational health and safety (OH&S) performance by controlling their OH&S risks, consistent with their OH&S policy and objectives. They do so in the context of increasingly stringent legislation, the development of economic policies and other measures that foster good OH&S practices, and of increased concern expressed by interested parties about OH&S issues. • Many organizations have undertaken OH&S “reviews” or “audits” to assess their OH&S performance. On their own, however, these “reviews” and “audits” may not be sufficient to provide an organization with the assurance that its performance not only meets, but will continue to meet, its legal and policy requirements. To be effective, they need to be conducted within a structured management system that is integrated within the organization. 4 Today’s agenda . Introduction . Towards the development of OHSMS & standards- OHSAS 18000 Series . OHSAS 18001 management system requirements . OHSAS 18001 Implementation & operation requirements . OHSAS 18001 corrective actions requirements . Conclusions Definition of OHSM Systems • The boundary of OHSMS is wide and there is no specific or precise definition of it. • According to Robson et al. (2007), OHSMS have properties like proactive, internally integrated, elements of evaluation and continuous improvement. • According to ILO-OSH (2001) is ―A set of interrelated or interacting elements to establish OSH policy and objectives and to achieve those objectives. • While OHSAS Series (2007) define OHSMS as, ―Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement its OH&S policy and manage its OH&S risks. • Some of internationally available standard systems and guidelines for OHSMS are ILO-OSH (2001), BS 8800 (2004) and OHSAS 18001 (2007). • Any OHS management system must link business processes in order to effectively manage and continually improve operations. The OHS management system, thus becomes the framework in which program activity is planned, implemented, evaluated, improved, documented and verified to systematically manage health and safety associated risks. • Thus, OSH is beginning to be seen by many enterprises not only as a legal requirement but also as a means of improving productivity, managing risks as well as protecting their workforce. 6 Evolution of standards • As stated there are numbers of occupational health and safety management systems which can be applied. However when talking about these management systems, we are in fact referring to two distinct types of standards. • First, there are the standards concerning labor. • They define the general conditions of occupational safety and health in the workplace. The objective in harmonizing this type of standard is to prevent "social dumping"; i.e. prevent the comparative advantages that are derived from lower production costs at the expense of inferior working conditions in the enterprise. By harmonizing these standards, we are also seeking social integration within the process of economic integration and liberalization, in such a way that the economic growth, achieved through economic integration and liberalization, is coupled by social progress. • Second are the standards concerning product safety. • As tariffs are eliminated or reduced, as is currently occurring with the regional economic integration agreements, and with the signing of multilateral trade agreements in the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), non-tariff technical barriers acquire more significance in international trade (Kenneth). Technical standards, particularly those related to product safety, could block international trade as effectively as high tariffs did in the past, and for that reason harmonization of product safety standards has become a prerequisite for economic integration. 7 Towards an OH&SMS specification • Currently there are formal international standards for managing quality (ISO 9000) and environmental safety (ISO 14000), however still there is no recognized ISO certificate standard for occupational health and safety management. • ISO 9000 series and the ISO 14000 series do not directly deal with or cover OSH issues, however they have a positive impact on their management in the workplace, due to the links that exists between OSH and quality as well as between the work environment and the environment in general. • However, the pressure from commercial organizations for the preparation of a “specification” for the management and control of health and safety at work as well as the demand for guidance on good practice for the establishment of occupational management systems against which, organizations could be audited and could obtain third party certification, led to the development of the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series document OHSAS 18001:1999. • International certification bodies and national standards bodies in UK, Ireland, South Africa, Spain and Malaysia are using OHSAS 18001 for certification purposes. It is estimated that currently some 32,000 organizations in 82 countries have adopted OHSAS 18001. 8 What is OHSAS Standard? (I) • OHSAS 18000 series (comprised of the parts ): • Occupational safety and health Assessments Series, published by the British Standards Institute. • The OHSAS Standards are intended to provide organizations with the elements of an effective OH&S management system that can be integrated with other management requirements and help organizations achieve OH&S as well as economic objectives. These standards, like other International Standards, are not intended to be used to create non -tariff trade barriers or to increase or change an organization’s legal obligations. • 18001: Describes Specifications for OH&S Management Systems: • OHSAS 18001 was developed to provide organizations with an internationally accepted system for managing the