Health and safety management systems specification OHSAS 18001 is now a British Standard BS OHSAS 18001:2007

BS OHSAS 18001:2007 Occupational health and safety management systems.  Requirements specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system, to enable an organization to control its OH&S risks and improve its performance.

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 and compatibility with BS EN ISO 9001 (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.
• Reference publications in Clause 2 have been limited to purely international documents.
• New definitions have been added, and existing definitions revised.
• Significant improvement in alignment with BS EN ISO 14001:2004 throughout the standard; and improved compatibility with BS EN ISO 9001:2000.
• A new requirement has been introduced for the consideration of the hierarchy of controls as part of OH&S planning
• Management of change is now more explicitly addressed
• A new clause on the "Evaluation of compliance" has been introduced, as per BS EN ISO 14001:2004
• New requirements have been introduced for participation and consultation
• New requirements have been introduced for the investigation of incidents

BS OHSAS 18001:2007 supersedes OHSAS 18001:1999, which remains current until 1 July 2009.

BS OHSAS 18001:2007 Occupational health and safety management systems. is available as a hard copy publication and can be ordered directly from the BSI website at www.bsi-global.com/BSOHSAS18001 or as a PDF download at www.bsi-global.com/eBSOHSAS18001.

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