Key Elements of Health and Safety Management System as per ILO-OSH-2001

Key Elements of a Health and Safety Management System as per ILO-OSH-2001.
ILO-OSH-2001 Guidelines on Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.
Below are the elements of this system and is reproduced with the kind permission of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Note that the basic elements are very similar to ISO 45001 in concept (see below). It is intended that the safety management system should be compatible with, or integrated into, other management systems within the organization.

Developed in consultation with workers, this should be signed by a senior member of the organization. It should commit the organization to protecting the health and safety of employees, comply with applicable laws and guidance, consult with employees and their participation, and continue improvement. The guidance stresses forcefully the importance of employee consultation and participation in all elements of the safety management system for it to be effective. As such the ILO-OSH guidelines strongly recommend the establishment of a health and safety committee and the recognition of safety representatives.

Whilst the employer retains overall responsibility for health and safety, specific roles should be delegated/allocated throughout the organization, including delegation of responsibility, accountability, and authority. The structure and processes need to be in place to, amongst other things:

Actively promote cooperation and effective two-way communication in order to implement the safety management system.

Establish arrangements to identify and control workplace risks.

Provide supervision.

Provide adequate resources, etc.

Particularly recommended is the appointment of a senior individual to oversee the development and maintenance of the occupational health and safety management system elements as a whole, promoting participation and periodic performance reporting.

Competence and training are stressed as key elements needed to implement such a program. Occupational health and safety management system documentation (policy, objectives, key roles/responsibilities, significant hazards and methods of prevention/control, procedures, etc.) should be created and maintained. Additionally, records should be kept, e.g. accident data, health surveillance, and other monitoring data.

This should start with an initial review to understand the organization’s current position. It should: identify applicable laws, standards, and guidelines; assess health and safety risks to the organization; determine if existing (or planned) controls are adequate; analyze health surveillance data, etc. This initial review provides the baseline for future continuous improvement.

The next stage is the planning, development, and implementation of the safety management system (based on the results of initial or subsequent reviews).

This should involve the setting of realistic, achievable objectives and the creation of a plan to meet those objectives, as well as selecting appropriate measurement criteria which will later be used to see if the objectives have been met and for the allocation of resources.

Preventive and protective measures should be planned and implemented to eliminate and/or control risks to health and safety. These should follow the general hierarchy of control: eliminate; control at source (using engineering and organizational measures); minimize (safe systems of work, including administrative controls); and PPE if risks cannot be adequately controlled by collective measures.

Management of change is also important. Changes may occur internally (new processes, staff, etc.), as well as externally (legal changes, mergers, etc.), and it is important to manage those changes in a systematic way. Risk assessment is a key part of that, as well as ensuring that people are consulted and that any proposed changes are properly communicated to those likely to be affected.

Plans should also cover foreseeable emergencies (prevention, preparedness, and response aspects), such as fire and first aid.

Procurement procedures should make sure that health and safety requirements (national and organizational) are an integral part of purchasing and leasing specifications.

You should also ensure that the organization’s health and safety requirements are applied to contractors (including contractor selection and their work on site (hazard awareness, training, coordination and communication, accident reporting, site rules, compliance monitoring, etc.)).

Procedures need to be in place to monitor, measure and record the performance of the health and safety system. You should use a mixture of qualitative and quantitative and active and reactive performance measures, and not just rely on accident rate data! Active monitoring includes things such as inspections, surveillance, compliance with laws, achievement of plans, etc. Reactive monitoring includes reporting and investigation of accidents/ill-health and occupational health and safety system failures. Accidents, etc. should be properly investigated to determine the root cause of failures in the system. Investigations should be properly documented and remedial action implemented to prevent a recurrence. The organization should have an audit policy (scope, competency, frequency, methodology, etc.).

Audits seek to evaluate the performance of the occupational health and safety management system elements (or a sub-set) and should at least cover: policy; worker participation; responsibility/accountability; competence and training; documentation; communication; planning, development, implementation; preventive and control measures; management of change; emergency preparedness; procurement; contracting; performance monitoring/measurement; accident investigations; audits; management review; preventive and corrective action; and continuous improvement.

Like audits conducted under ISO 45001 (see below), audits under ILO-OSH-2001 can be internal or external although, unlike ISO 45001, external audits are not mandatory. In the case of ILO-OSH-2001, external audits are not conducted by a certification body, since there is no certification requirement. Instead, if the company wants one, independent auditors who are specifically commissioned for the task can carry them out. The audit should ultimately make conclusions about the effectiveness of the occupational health and safety management system.

A management review should evaluate the overall occupational health and safety management system and progress towards the organization’s goals. It will use data from monitoring, measuring, and auditing of the system as well as take account of other factors (including organizational changes) that may influence the system in the future. It will establish if changes are needed to the system (or components of it). The results need to be recorded and communicated.

Occupational health and safety management system performance monitoring, audits and management reviews will necessarily create a list of corrective actions. You must ensure that firstly you establish the root causes of the problems requiring correction, and secondly, there is a system in place for making sure that actions are carried out (and checks made on their effectiveness).

The organization should strive to continually improve. It should compare itself with other similar organizations.