All About ISO

Having just attended the 2011 National Safety Council's Congress and Expo in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone about the IS0 Occupational Health and Safety Management System standard (OHSAS) (ISO 18001).  ISO 18001 was introducted in 2007 and can be applied to any facility that wishes to:

• Establish an OH&S management system to eliminate or minimize risk to employees and other interested parties who may be exposed to OH&S risks associated with its activities
• Implement, maintain and continually improve an OH&S management system
• Assure itself of its conformance with its stated OH&S policy
• Demonstrate such conformance to others
• Seek certification/registration of its OH&S management system by an external organization
• Make a self-determination and declaration of conformance with the OHSAS specification.
  

ISO 18001 requires preparing a Safety Manual and documenting procedures required by the standard.  A facility can obtain certification to ISO 18001 for their OHSAS through a third-party registrar similar to attaining ISO 14001 certification for their environmental management system (EMS).