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November 30, 2010

Pros and cons of BS OHSAS 18001 examined

Health and safety specialist tutor at BSI, Tim Sparey, has carried out research into the relative benefits and drawbacks of implementing the occupational health and safety management standard, BS OHSAS 18001.

The core objectives of Sparey’s research were to determine whether the implementation and management of the requirements of BS OHSAS 18001 can improve the health and safety performance within organisations, and whether levels of incidents and risk can be reduced.

A total of 788 UK sites with management systems certified to the 2007 version of the standard was asked to complete a survey, with 131 responding. Some 43 BS OHSAS 18001 assessors also completed the survey.

Testing Sparey’s main hypothesis (that users of BS OHSAS 18001 have evidence of performance improvement) confirmed that significant improvement has been made by British industries through implementation of the standard. Specific areas of improvement were seen in terms of reduced accident rates (51.8 per cent), and improved reporting of accidents (56.1 per cent) and non-injury incidents (52.5 per cent).

The results also identified that users of BS OHSAS 18001 demonstrated significant improvement in terms of organisational health and safety culture through the application of the standard’s requirements.

However, respondents also identified some drawbacks in working to the standard, not least in terms of an increase in the costs of health and safety management. Sparey’s paper qualifies this finding by underlining that such investment is deemed to be inevitable, as little improvement can be achieved without investment in time, competencies, and required equipment.

He concludes therefore that users need to understand the balance between investment and improvement and the longer-term returns that could be achieved through implementation of the standard.

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Nabh
Nabh
14 years ago

I absolutely adore reading your blog posts, the variety of writing is smashing.This blog as usual was educational, I have had to bookmark your site and subscribe to your feed in ifeed. Your theme looks lovely.Thanks for sharing.

Nabh
Nabh
14 years ago

Very good post, I was really searching for this topic, as I wanted this topic to understand completely and it is also very rare in internet, that is why it was very difficult to understand.

Thank you for sharing this.

regards:
ISO 9001

Ohasprofessional
Ohasprofessional
14 years ago

Dear Sir,

Thanks to Mr. Tim Sparey for this work.

Can I have the questionnaire which Mr. Tim Sparey distributed to know the pros and cons of BS OHSAS 18001.

Thanking in advance.

Best Regards,
Faisal Javed Mir

Tonyarnolds
Tonyarnolds
14 years ago

I am happy to read about the performance of OHSAS 18001. Please I am a practioner of OSH based in Nigeria. I want to know what it may take my company to be a certifying agent for OHSAS 18001.

I am a Tech.IOSH with IGC certification in NEBOSH. I have vast knowledge of how to develop and implement the management system based on OHSAS standards.

Please I need directions and where possible, partners. Our website is http://www.cfamng.com

Kind regards.

Asamonye Anthony A.C