In the changed industrial scenario, an emphatic worldwide endeavour is visible in improving quality in all functions of an organization. Recognizing that the workplace safety and health is a decisive factor in an organizational effectiveness, several management frameworks have been proposed to implement costeffective occupational health and safety (OHS) in preventing workplace ailments and promoting health and welfare of workers revolving around the International Standards Organization families of management standards (eg. ISO 9000 and ISO 14000) 2-3.

Broadly, an ideal OHS management system (OHSMS) should provide a structured process to minimize potentials of work-related injuries and illnesses, increase productivity by reducing the direct and indirect costs associated with accidents, and increase the quality of manufactured products and/or rendered services. It must provide a direction to OHS activities, in accordance with the organizational policies, regulatory requirements, industry practices and standards, including negotiated labour agreements. Therefore, conforming to an OHSMS may be of significant value to an organization. This approach has drawn significant attention among the standards organizations, the accreditation and certification bodies and the national agencies in formalizing, implementing and evaluating OHSMS. This write-up gives an account and analysis of the OHSMS development, including its scope in the context of our diverse employment sectors. 

OHSMS Development and Certification.

The British Standard (BS 8800) is perhaps the first formalized template to transform into a global OHSMS framework Prior to the BS initiative, the US Occupational. Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) introduced voluntary protection programme (VPP) to approve worksites with exemplary safety and health management programmes. Further, the US OSHA recommended OHS guidelines to institute and maintain an organizational programme that provides systematic policies, procedures and practices to protect employees from, and to allow them to recognize and control health and safety hazards, including general workplace hazards, specific job hazards and potential hazards.

The major elements of the guidelines covered are – management commitment, employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control, safety and health training. Structurally, the BS 8800 guidelines are based on the general principles of good management having increased visibility with two approaches.The first approach is based on the British Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance – HS (G) 65 (Fig.1).The second approach is based on International Standards Organization (ISO) 14001 environmental management standard (Fig.2).

The guidance presented in each approach is essentially the same, the only difference being the order of presentation.Either of the approaches may be adopted to integrate OHSMS with other management systems in practice in the organization. The BS guidelines also contain annexes giving guidelines on the ways that organizations can develop OHSMS will conform to other ISO standards.

The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) issued OHSMS guidelines (ANSI accredited) as a voluntary form of management for the organization 9-10. One can comprehend similarities in BS 8800 and AIHA guidelines, however, the BS 8800 is explicit on the requirement of root cause analysis, whereas the AIHA OHSMS assessment procedure implies the need for root cause analysis, and that brings in fair degree of flexibility for stage-wise implementation.

The framework for certification of OHSMS, namely Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) specification (OHSAS 18001:1999) has been developed by an association of national standards andcertification bodies, and specialist consultants. It has been developed to be compatible with the ISO 9000(quality) and ISO 14000 (environment) standards in order to align and integrate quality, environment and OHS management systems in organizations. An accompanying publication, OHSAS 18002 is a guidance document to implement OHSAS 18001 and corresponds directly to the specification. The organization, which has established, implemented and maintained OHSMS meeting the specification, is eligible to apply for certification. The scheme is established with the aim that upon receiving the certification, the organization will become more aware and self-regulatory in promoting health and safety at their work places. The certification offers independent verification and auditing that an organization has taken reasonable measures to minimize workplace risks and injuries.