OHSAS 18001 revised (I)
- September 13th, 2007
The Occupational Health & Safety Assessment Series 18001 has been upgraded from the 1999 version to the 2007 version and has been made available since beginning of August this year.
It is interesting to note that 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 reader of the new OHSAS 18001:2007 will also note the significant improvement in alignment with ISO 14001:2004 throughout the standard, and improved compatibility with ISO 9001:2000.
In the main, it seems that the changes in this document which may impact on your existing OHSAS18001: 1999 management system can be grouped as follows:
1. Changes to the definitions of terms used in the standard, which I will cover in this article, and
2. Changes to the clauses, which will be addressed in a second article.
Changes to the definitions of terms used in the standard document that might impact your current Occupational Health & Safety Management System
So let us look at the changes, new definitions have been added, and existing definitions revised:
ACCEPTABLE RISK
The term “tolerable risk” has been replaced by the term “acceptable risk” (see 3.1)
INCIDENT
The term “accident” is no longer referenced, and has been included in the term “incident” (see 3.9)
HAZARD
The definition of the term “hazard” no longer refers to “damage to property or damage to the workplace environment” (see 3.6) and the definition of “hazard” has been changed to include “ Source, situation, or act with a potential for harm in terms of human injury or ill health (3.8), or a combination of these.”
ILL HEALTH
New inclusion of “ill health”: identifiable, adverse physical or mental condition arising from and /or made worse by a work activity and/or work-related situation.
INCIDENT
The definition of “Incident” changes to: event(s) in which a work-related injury or ill health (3.8) (regardless of severity) or fatality occurred or could have occurred.
NOTE An event where no death, ill health, or injury occurs may also be referred to as a “near-miss”, “near-hit”, “close call” or “dangerous occurrence”.
RISK
The definition of “risk” changes to include: combination of the likelihood of an occurrence of a hazardous event or exposure(s) and the severity of injury or ill health (3.8) that may be caused by the event or exposure(s).
RISK ASSESSMENT
The definition if “risk assessment” changes to: process of evaluating the risk (3.22), taking into account the adequacy of any existing controls, and deciding whether or not the risk is acceptable
In the next article we will take a closer look at the changes that were made to the clauses of the new OHSAS 18001:2007.
One Response to “OHSAS 18001 revised (I)”
How to Conduct an ISO/OHSAS Audit
I would like to give you a glimpse of how I normally conduct an ISO/OHSAS audit (without indicating that this method is perfect or totally correct).
April 13th, 2011 & Filed in Management SystemsSix Mistakes Managers Make with Occupational Health & Safety
A manager is not without fault and is not a perfect species, and despite our best intentions we often also make mistakes and slip-ups that can have a big impact …
March 17th, 2011 & Filed in SHEQ LeadershipInside ISO31000 – Risk Management Systems
During the previous article we started to unpack ISO31000: Risk Management – Principles and Guidelines standard. We looked at the framework encompassing the …
February 16th, 2011 & Filed in Management SystemsAmputations Related To The Workplace
Amputations are widespread in the workplace. Most of all workplace amputations occur in the manufacturing sector. The rest occur in construction, agriculture, wholesale, retail and service industries.
November 17th, 2010 & Filed in Health & Safety
[...] “changes or proposed changes in the organization or its activities”; “modifications to the OH&S management system, including temporary changes, and their impacts on operations, processes, and activities” and [...]