An OHSAS 18001 certificate proves that your management system has been measured against a best practice standard and found compliant. Issued by a third party accreditation body/registrar, the certificate lets employees and other stakeholders know that you proactively protect the health and safety of your work force.

OHSAS 18001 provides a modern framework for control and improvement of occupational health and safety performance.

The OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series) certification system is created by an association of national standard bodies, certification bodies/registrars, and specialist consultancies. DNV has actively contributed to the development of the standard.

The OHSAS series
OHSAS 18001 is designed to help organisations formulate occupational health and safety policies and objectives. It was first released in 1999 and revised in 2007 and is the world’s most recognised framework for ocupational health and safety management systems. It is applicable to any organisation, large or small, and within any business sector. OHSAS 18001 is largely aligned wth the structure of ISO 14001 and is based on the two concepts of continual improvement and regulatory compliance.

Eliminating risks and hazards
OHSAS 18001 will measure your managements system with regards to several dimensions. The extent of application will depend on such factors as the occupational health and safety policy of the organisation, the nature of its activities, and conditions under which it operates.

A successful management system should be based on:

• An occupational health and safety policy appropriate for the company.
  
  
• Identification of occupational health and safety risks and legal requirements.
  
  
• Objectives, targets, and programmes that ensure continual improvements.
  
  
• Management activities that control the occupational health and safety risks.
  
  
• Monitoring of the occupational health and safety system performance.
  
  
• Continual reviews, evaluation, and improvement of the system.

Where do I go from here?
For third party certification, you need to implement an effective management system complying with the requirements of the standard. The first step is to get on the road to certification.