OHSAS 18001 is an internationally applied British Standard for occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS). This standard establishes requirements for an organization to control its work-related health and safety hazards and improve their performance, by planning, documenting and implementing a verifiable method for reducing and eliminating hazards in the workplace. The benefits of OHSAS 18001 can help your organization improve health and safety. 

Managing occupational health and safety in the workplace brings numerous benefits to all kinds and sizes of organizations. Some of these are:

It guides organizations in their pursue of “zero accidents”.

• OHSAS 18001 provides a system to identify and effectively manage occupational health and safety hazards in order to minimize health and safety risk.
• It provides tools and techniques to identify potential causes of accidents and helps organizations improve employee awareness of risks.
• Incident and accident rates are reduced as a consequence of better control of work-related risks and an improved performance monitoring.
• Improves the incident investigation process.

Ensures organizations comply with legal requirements.

• In order for organizations to establish and maintain their OHSMS, they must take into account applicable legal requirements.
• Ensures organizations commit to comply and communicate all relevant legal information to employees and interested parties.

Improves an organization’s image.

• OHSAS 18001 drives organizations to set occupational health and safety as a priority, ensuring that appropriate measures are taken to protect staff, employees and everyone associated with their activities.
• The adoption of international best practice in relation to risk management can improve an organization’s image and credibility among stakeholders, regulators, customers, prospective clients and the public in general.
• An improved reputation can give organizations a competitive advantage by providing a safe environment to do business.

Improves the workplace environment.

• Implementing this standard will show employees that an organization is committed to keeping them safe, therefore improving employee motivation, retention and satisfaction.
• OHSAS 18001 can help organizations put in place clear procedures to decrease absenteeism.
• Improvement of communication and training will bring greater involvement and commitment from everyone.

Helps organizations save money.

• Implementing OHSAS 18001 reduces the likelihood of fines and prosecutions.
• By reducing accident and incident rates and work-related illnesses, it also reduces all the costs associated with them (costly medical claims, lost working days, time and money spent on investigation and paperwork).
• This standard is recognized by insurers which can bring a decrease in insurance premiums.

Another benefit of OHSAS 18001 is that the standard can be adopted by any organization, regardless of its size or nature, whether it’s a high risk or low risk businesses in the private or public sector.

This standard is compatible with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 management systems standards, making it easy to integrate it with existing management systems, thus contributing to the improvement of an organization’s overall business performances.