BS OHSAS 18001 : Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems - Requirements

BS OHSAS 18001 : 2007 Occupational health and safety management systems. Requirements specifies requirement for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system, to enable an organization to control its OH&S risks and improve its performance. It does not state specific OH&S performance criteria, nor does it give detailed specifications for the design of a management system, which is given in BS 8800:2004. BS OHSAS 18001:2007 is the UK implementation of OHSAS and has the status of a British Standard. BS OHSAS 18001 : 2007 supersedes OHSAS 18001 : 1999, but remains current until 2009. There have been a number of significant changes to the standard since the first edition was published in 1999. The changes reflect the widespread use and experience of the standard in more than 80 countries, and by approximately 16,000 certified organizations Principal amongst the changes are much greater emphasis on "health" rather than just "safety", and significantly improved alignment to BS EN ISO 14001:2004 (to enable organizations to develop "integrated management systems"). Summary of key changes between BS OHSAS 18001:2007 and OHSAS 18001:1999 • The importance of "health" has now been given greater emphasis. • BS 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.