Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems

Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems 
Oleh : Bayu Burwinanto

The definition of the term “Hazard” no longer refers to “damage to property or damage to the workplace environment” it is now considered that such”damage” is not directly related to occupational health and safety management, which is the purpose of this OHSAS Standard, and that it is included in the field of asset management, instead, the risk of such “ damage” having an effect on occupational health and safety should be identified through the organization’s risk assessment process, and be controlled through the application of appropriate risk controls.

Note this OHSAS standard is based on the methodology known as Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). PDCA can be briefly described as follows.

• Plan : establish the objectives and proceses necessary to deliver results in accordance with the organization’S OH&S policy.
• Do : Implement the processes
• Check : monitor and measure processes against OH&S policy, Objectives, legal and other requirements, and report the results.
• Act : Take actions to continually OH&S performance.

Many organizations manage their operations via the application of a system of processes and their interactions, which can be referred to as the “Process approach”. ISO 9001 promotes the use of the process approach since PDCA can be applied to all processes, the two methodologies are considered to be compatible.

This OHSAS Standard contains requirements that can be objectively audited; however it does not establish absolute requirements for OH&S performance beyond the commitments, in the OH&S policy, to comply with applicable legal requirements and with other requirements to which the organization subscribes, to the prevention of injury and ill health and to continual improvement. Thus, two organizations carrying out similar operations but having different OH&S performance can both conform to its requirements.

This OH&S Standard does not include requirements specific to other management systems, such as those for quality, environmental, security, or financial management, though its elements can be aligned mor integrated with those of other management systems. It is possible for an organization to adapt its existing management system(s) in order to establish an OH&S management system that conforms to the requirements of this OHSAS Standard. It is pointed out, however, that the application of various elements of the management system might differ depending on the intended purpose and the interested parties involved.

The level of detail and complexity of the OH&S management system, the extent of documentation and the resources devoted to it depend on a number of factors, such as the scope of the system, the size of an organization and the nature of its activities, products and services, and the organizational culture. This may be the case in particular for small and medium-sized enterprise