WHAT IS OHSAS 18001?

OHSAS stands for Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Specification. In April 1999, the British Standards Institute released the specification that they called OHSAS 18001. This was developed in response to strong worldwide demand for a generalized, comprehensive outline for managing occupational health & safety issues.

A descendant of BS 8800 and a number of other national and private-sector standards, OHSAS 18001 can be used by any company to promote safe work practices and employee well-being. Its format parallels ISO 9001:2000 and 14001, and registrars are now implementing and testing uniform models for auditing and registration to OHSAS 18001.

A growing number of organizations are becoming interested in attaining registration to this specification. They understand that this will provide them numerous benefits, including:

• Ensuring the proper and effective management of worker health & safety.
• Demonstrating to regulatory bodies the seriousness of their commitment to these issues.
• The potential to obtain lower insurance premiums by showing insurers that they are carefully managing risk.

PJR is accredited by UKAS to register clients to OHSAS 18001.