Recognize How To Prepare An Occupational Health And Safety Policy

By Author: John
Total Articles: 251
Comment this article

Among the few mandatory requirements for appropriate documents in the OHSAS 18001 standard is having a defined OH&S Policy. The standard requires top management to develop an organizational occupational health and safety policy. But before starting the organization must know a few things like, what is the purpose of this policy? How can an organization ensure that it is adequate? What information does the organization need to include? While the answers to these questions vary for each company, here are some general recommendations to help you define them in your organization.

The Policy highlights the vision of an organization's aims and direction regarding occupational health and safety. Because it is a major mandate for how every individual in the company will conduct their jobs in terms of occupational health and safety, this statement must come from top management. This is where the organization demonstrates the company's commitment to controlling and enhancing occupational health and safety. Every policy, like any other management system standard, must meet some basic standards. Let's look at what the policy ...
... should include.

• Appropriate to the organization – It is not something that needs to be written into the policy; rather, it needs to be remembered throughout the policy-making process. The OH&S Policy should be tailored to the organization's type and level of OH&S risk. A construction company's occupational health and safety policy should not focus on office hazards.

• Prevention of injuries and ill health – One more basic commitment that should be mentioned in the policy is for the firm to prevent injuries and illness. Again, Organization does not need to describe how they will carry out the prevention in the policy, but it should be something the organization can simply point someone to during an audit.

• Management commitment and continual improvement – One of the primary reasons for installing any management system is to identify processes that can be improved. The OH&S Here is where organizations get into the detailed information that applies to the company. should include a commitment to continuous improvement in how organizational procedures affect occupational health and safety. Also, organizations don’t need to specify how they want to accomplish this; only mention that they intend to do so.

• Comply with legal and other requirements – The final commitment required under the policy is to comply with all legal and other obligations connected to occupational health and safety, and it must promise to meet any laws or other restrictions linked to them. It is not necessary to go into depth; simply mention that organization is committed to meeting relevant legal and other standards and then describe how companies maintain compliance with the method.

• Framework for objectives – This is where the organization becomes specific to the organization. The organization will need to create plans to achieve some objectives related to improving the organization's occupational health and safety, and these plans must be aligned with the OH&S policy. If the goal is to provide a safe environment for the employees and avoid workplace injuries, then the policy must eventually tie to this. Include nothing in your policy that cannot be executed in conjunction with some improvement projects.

• Documented, implemented, and maintained – The OH&S Policy becomes one of the things in the management system that must be documented in writing. This can be in hard or soft copy, but it cannot be oral. It must also be executed, which means that plans have been established and resources have been allocated to make the policy's commitments a reality. The policy will need to be reviewed and changed over time as the nature of the company's OH&S hazards evolves, and this is known as policy maintenance.

• Communicated to all employees – Employees must recognize the corporate policy and how their work actions relate to the organization's occupational health and safety threats. The policy does not need to be memorized, but employees should grasp what it means and how they can help achieve the aim.

• Available to the interested parties – The OH&S Policy, unlike many management systems, is expected to be disclosed to anyone outside the firm who requests it. This can be put on an external website or provided upon request, but if someone wants to know what the policy is, it should be easily accessible. This is how the investment in a workplace health and safety management system can be turned into a marketing tool for the organization.