Health and safety practitioners everywhere are striving to find better ways to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses.  Over the past several years, the mindset in many workplaces has shifted from health and safety “programs” to “management systems”.

The root of this change is a shift in our thinking.  We’re no longer looking at safety as a special initiative that’s unrelated to core business functions.  Rather, we speak of, and strive to create, a culture in which “health and safety” is an integral part of the organization.  In workplaces where this is successful, all members – managers, supervisors, and empowered employees – factor health and safety into their decision making process, just as they consider cost, quality, and customer service.  The guiding principle for this shift is the need to create a “system” of managing health and safety as an everyday way of doing business – in other words, an Occupational Health and Safety Management System or OHSMS.

The Standards Council of Canada describes an OHSMS as “a framework for managing an organization’s occupational health and safety responsibilities (which) enable organizations to improve health and safety performance and reduce or prevent injuries, illnesses and fatalities”¹.  As such – a framework – the OHSMS provides the general structure for managing workplace health and safety.  The content within the framework will be unique for each organization, in character with its activities and culture.

According to the Industrial Accident Prevention Association, OHSMS “are an emerging trend in business and in the health and safety field.  They reflect the principles of quality, due diligence and continual improvement and provide for the creation of prevention programs that can be implemented, maintained, documented and verified.”²

Several OHSMS are in use in Canada.  Federally-regulated organizations are required to implement a Hazard Prevention Program as specified in the Canada Occupational Health & Safety Regulations³.  In Alberta, many companies have adopted the “Partnerships” model.  This management system is the basis for the province’s voluntary Certificate of Recognition program administered by Alberta Workplace Health & Safety⁴.  Recently, CSA Z1000-06 has been published by the Canadian Standards Association⁵.  It may be a suitable alternative for organizations that operate across Canada.

Regardless which standard your organization chooses, an occupational health and safety management system will help to integrate health and safety with other business activities.  It’s an effective way to improve your workplace.

Useful References and Websites:

1. “Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems”, Standards Council of Canada website, http://www.scc.ca/en/programs/iso_reg/ohs.shtml
2. “Management Systems Occupational Health & Safety: The Road Ahead”, Industrial Accident Prevention Association, Toronto, 2004  www.iapa.ca
3. Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, enacted under Canada Labour Code, Part II.  Available at http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/showtdm/cr/SOR-86-304
4. “Partnerships and CORs”, Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry, Workplace Health & Safety website, http://employment.alberta.ca/cps/rde/xchg/hre/hs.xsl/277.html
5. “Occupational Health & Safety Management, CSA Z1000-06, Canadian Standards Association, 2006. www.csa.ca
6. “American National Standard for Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems”, ANSI/AIHA Z10-2005, American National Standards Institute, 2005.  www.ansi.org
7. “Health & Safety OHSAS 18001”, BSI Management Systems website, http://www.bsi-emea.com/OHS/index.xalter 

This article is provided as introductory information only.  Cited references, and other literature, should be consulted for complete details.  Article Reproduced by Guzzardi & Associates with Permission.  Copyright 2007 Escalade Services Group Inc.