Phasing out the BS OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety Management System

14 Jun, 2018

Are you currently running the BS OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety Management System? If you are, you’re probably wondering how its discontinuation will affect you. Here’s a quick guide.

The eagerly anticipated ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System was released in March to replace BS OHSAS 18001. As with BS OHSAS 18001, the overall aim of ISO 45001 is to reduce risks and ensure the health and wellbeing of everyone involved within a business.

Shockingly, somewhere in the world every 15 seconds someone will die due to a work-related injury or disease and a further 153 people will experience a work-related injury. How many people will that be by the time you get to the end of this article? Approximately 18 deaths and 2,754 injuries.  Rather than falling, these figures are rising.

Although ISO 45001 can’t protect you legally, it will help you control these risks and improve overall safety performance. If you wish to remain certificated, you have until 2021 to upgrade, so what are your next steps?

Our Existing Clients

If you are already a client of ISO Quality Services, your account manager will have already been in touch to advise you of our approach:

1. We will use your next Internal Audit to conduct a GAP Analysis of your current BS OHSAS 18001 against the ISO 45001.
2. We will provide you with recommendations in order to meet the requirements of the new standard.
3. We will create your new and necessary documentation. We aim to get your documentation back to you, ready for implementation within 8-12 weeks from the recommendations being issued.
4. You will have until your re-certification visit to complete these actions. As long as recommendations have been met, we will then be able to certificate you to the new ISO 45001.

Alternatively, should you wish to upgrade to ISO 45001 earlier than your Internal Audit, please contact your account manager.

Companies with another provider including UKAS Accredited Certification

If you are certificated to the BS OHSAS 18001 with a different provider, we can provide ISO Consultancy services to help you transition to ISO 45001.

We will initially perform a GAP analysis on your business to identify differences between the old and new standards.  Our experienced auditor will make recommendations to help develop your policies and documents in line with the new standards.  Further consultancy is available to guide you through the process of implementing the recommendations and we can produce a mini manual to document the transition.

Want to get more out of your Health and Safety Management System?

If you feel you would benefit from training, we offer on-site training tailored towards the needs of your business. For further information, please contact our office on 01905 670303 or training@isoqsltd.com.

 Don’t have BS OHSAS 18001 but interested in ISO 45001?

Any business of any size, in any sector, can be certificated to ISO 45001. If you are interested in implementing the new ISO 45001 standard, please contact a member of our team on 01905 670303 or info@isoqsltd.com.

If you are interested in any other standards or training that we offer, please visit our websites: www.isoqsltd.com or www.isotrainingservicesltd.com