The occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) is a set of well-planned processes which aim at helping an organisation to prevent risks at the workplace such as accidental injuries, hazards, and illnesses of workers. The OHSMS framework includes definite processes through which organisations can identify the ongoing as well as potential health and safety risks and alleviate or eliminate them. No doubt, the framework also enables the organisations to consistently comply with the country’s current health and safety laws and demonstrate that commitment to protecting their workers. All these make the OHSMS implementation quite a challenging aspect for organisations and so you might need an external guide to implement it in your organisation. This blog explains how proficient workplace health and safety consultants are the right persons to assist you! They have industry-wide experience and hence can help in establishing the most fitting OHSMS framework in your organisation by looking at your workplace environment and risk profile. Learn here more about the role of consultants.
It is usually not possible for you to know all the risks that are affecting or may affect your workers’ wellbeing and performance. An external expert with a specialty in occupational health and safety management can truly help you identify all types of threats or risks at your workplaces and give you a fresh perspective on your organisation’s risk profile. They would help to put OHS at the forefront of your business management strategy and change your approach to workers’ safety. Thus, to have a clear idea of your OHS risks, you need to consider having some professionals by your side.
Secondly, when you understand the risks or threats, you need guidelines for deploying the best practices to prevent them and protect your workers. The consultants would lead you to the world’s most recognised OHS standards like ISO 45001. The standards provide defined regulations and principles for implementing the framework of OHSMS in organisations. The standards apply to all types of businesses and so it leaves room for improvement when your organisation adopts them. The consultants would help you understand the basic regulations and principles of the standard. They would also guide you to adopt a standard by making necessary amendments in the OHSMS.
Thirdly, workplace health and safety consultants strive to help organisations build an OHSMS that takes their health and safety performance to a new level. They would make sure that the OHSMS is also capable of dealing with the emerging safety challenges in your organisations. They keep themselves updated with the latest workplace safety laws and regulations. So, they would ensure that your OHSMS covers widespread compliance and helps you deal with critical or new safety challenges.
By working with the dedicated consultants, you are not only able to implement a feasible OHSMS in your organisation but also do it in a short time. They provide a unique and streamlined methodology for implementation and guide you from beginning to end.
Whichever OHS standard you consider meeting, the consultants would help you design, document and establish a correct OHSMS that complies with the requirements underlined by it. And, when they are sure about the effectiveness of your OHSMS, they would assist you to get through the process of certification with an accredited body. That is not the end. They would also keep in contact with you in the long run and help you maintain compliance.
The key steps that they would take you through for implementation of an OHSMS are:
1. Formal Gap Analysis : Your organisation must have some form of OHS management program even if it lacked a proper structure or promoted ambiguous practices. The program would be the start of your implementation project. The consultants would carefully do a gap analysis of it. The analysis would help them see where the current practices of your organisation fall behind the chosen standard. It would also highlight what is good with the program i.e., strengths and what needs to be improved. Thus, with a clear observation of the gaps in your existing program, they can decide the necessary improvements required to transition it to a compliant OHSMS framework.
2. OHSMS Implementation Support : The consultants would provide you with all forms of support required to implement an OHSMS aligning with the standard. First, they would develop a plan for implementation and figure out the timeline required. The plan should include the objectives, stages, roles of managers as well as employees, resources needed, and other aspects necessary for implementing it. They would also give you guidelines to hold proper training and awareness programs for your employees to make them accountable for OHS management.
3. Internal Audit : The consultants would also perform a comprehensive audit of your OHSMS once it is established and becomes a core part of your organisation’s management strategy. They would meticulously check it, evaluate its compliance with the specific regulations and provide an impartial review. They would highlight the weaknesses, nonconformities or faults in the OHSMS and provide useful recommendations to fix them soon.
Implementing an OHSMS is undoubtedly considered a business’s priority to protect their workers’ safety and health. It helps commit to ensuring the well-being of workers through the implementation of best practices or processes. Having a definite and structured approach to OHS management also helps in minimising the losses in a business such as productivity loss (due to absenteeism, sick leaves etc.), reputational loss (due to workplace hazards, accidental injuries) and litigation fees (due to non-obligation with work safety regulations). Therefore, implementing the OHSMS is a strategic move for organisations that want to go beyond the basic OHS practices and get their approach to workplace health and safety strong and foolproof.
Would you want to take your organisation’s commitment to OHS to the next level by implementing a standardised OHSMS? The dedicated workplace health and safety consultants at Compliancehelp would guide you exactly through these mentioned ways. If you are ready, feel free to contact or call our consultants!
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