News Article

OHSAS 18001 Summary of Changes

First published in 1999, OHSAS 18001 was created as a vehicle to standardize the various occupational health and safety specifications in use at the time.  With widespread implementation of the standard, OHSAS has been updated to clarify the first edition and incorporate the experience of the standard worldwide.

Significant amongst the changes is an alteration in the documents reference to itself as a “standard” instead of a “specification”.  Also of note is a better alignment with the ISO 9001 (Quality) standard and ISO 14001 (Environmental) management systems standards, to facilitate the integration of quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management systems.

A summary of the key changes is as follows:

• The greater emphasis on "health" in addition to “safety”.
• The "Plan-Do-Check-Act" model diagram is given in its entirety in the Introduction only, rather than as sectional diagrams at the start of each major clause.
• New definitions have been added, and revisions to existing definitions have been made. 
• Improved alignment with quality standard ISO 9000:2000 and environmental standard ISO 14001:2004.                                        
• The term “acceptable risk” replaces the term “allowed risk”.
• The term “incident” replaces the term “accident” in reference to any work-related events where injury or illness occurred or could have occurred.
• The term “danger” no longer refers to “damages of assets or damages of the working environment".
• The definition of the term ‘hazard’ now limits itself to “potential for harm in terms of human injury or ill health”, and no longer includes damage to property or the workplace environment.
• Human factors, infrastructure, equipment and materials, changes in the organization, and other factors to be taken into account during the hazard identification and risk assessment process are now included under “Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Determining Controls”.
• Several sub-clauses now include the term, "all persons working under the control of the organization", replacing the term “employees”.
• Organizations are now required to define and document the scope of the OH&S management system.
• Control of documents, now requires that "documents of external origin determined by the organization to be necessary for the planning and operation of the OH&S management system are identified and their distribution controlled."
• Additional requirements have been added for “Communication, participation and consultation”, and for ‘”incident investigation, nonconformity, corrective action and preventive action”.
• A new clause requiring the organization to periodically evaluate its compliance with applicable legal and other requirements has been added.
• Worker participation and consultation have been emphasized, including requirements to ensure participation of anyone working for or on behalf of the organization in the OHSMS, and involvement in the development of OH&S policies, objectives and procedures.
• Management review requirements better reflect those of ISO 14001, specifying inputs and outputs for the review.  New requirements for the results of participation and consultation processes have been added, including a requirement to make management review results available for consultation and communication.

Representing a uniform approach to health and safety, OHSAS 18001:2007 will improve productivity, reduce liability, and provide financial benefits. By combining the experience of OHS practitioners around the world, OHSAS 18001:2007 presents a new and better approach to occupational health and safety for the 21st century.