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OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System

OHSAS 18001 is an Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system created to enable organizations to control occupational health and safety risks and to improve performances.

OHSAS 18001 is designed to place a proactive and preventative emphasis on risk control factors by identifying and assessing the likelihood of hazards in the workplace. OHSAS 18001 can be implemented by organizations of all sizes and in any industry.

An organization's conformance to OHSAS 18001 safeguards that employees, clients and all parties in question are exposed to as few risks as possible, while third-party certification authenticates that an organization has taken steps to avoid accidents and hazardous situations using a comprehensive and effectively implemented system. Although many third-party organizations provide nonaccredited certification to OHSAS 18001, only a handful, including TÜV SÜD America, are capable of providing accredited certifications.

Elements of an occupational health and safety management system:

Occupational Health and Safety Policy
Planning
Implementation and Operations
Checking and Corrective Actions
Management Review
Continual Improvement

An effective occupational health and safety management systems should:

Result in the identification of hazards and assessment of risks in the work environment.
Provide for the development of methods to eliminate hazards and risks.
Result in the implementations of measures to evaluate improvement.

Benefits of an effective occupational health and safety management system:

Reduction of accidents resulting in death or disabilities.
Reduction of the risk of major accidents occurring.
Reduction of down time.
Reduction of lost revenue due to production disruption.

Even though OHSAS 18001 is not recognized as a standard by ISO, it is internationally recognized by more and more international organizations, encompassing a variety of industries requiring their suppliers to be OHSAS certified. Additionally, since OHSAS is similar in structure to ISO 9001 and 14001, it is possible for an organization to integrate OHSAS 18001 with ISO 9001 and / or ISO 14001 allowing a single audit for any combination through TÜV SÜD America.

It is important to note that conformance / accredited certification will not eliminate all risks and does not release an organization from its obligation to fulfill any additional legal requirements. OHSAS 18001 certificates are valid for three years, with surveillance audits held annually.

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