Companies in the power business are generally aware that the law, due diligence and established standards require them to have current and viable policies and training in place on occupational health and safety. And yet many have struggled to meet these expectations, often lacking a credible model to shape their thoughts and guide implementation. That is why the international health and safety standard OHSAS 18001 has begun to attract attention.
OHSAS 18001 was created in the United Kingdom by a cross-sector industry team. The intent was to develop and document a structure that would bring about meaningful and steady improvement in health and safety performance. The business case was simple: injuries are costly – in terms of an organization’s direct time, higher insurance premiums and lost productivity.
When it was completed and approved as a British Standard, it was decided that OHSAS 18001 should be submitted for consideration as an International Standard. The organization that oversees such submission is the International Standardization Organization, ISO. While ISO has not as yet approved OHSAS 18001 as a full International Standard, tens of thousands of organizations have already been certified as conforming. Many Canadian operations have been counted among this number including St. Marys Cement, Boart Longyear and Bombardier.
In power generation, the need for a different approach to health and safety management could not be more clear. Some industry estimates place the average age of key professionals in Ontario’s vast power generation network at well over 50. In the next 15 years or sooner, there will be a significant turnover of personnel.
The injury incident rate currently achieved in power generation is the result of training and mentoring with what amounts to a stable work force. The result has been a trend of decreasing rates of injury for the industry. With the coming mass exodus of experience, how will the industry be able to address the challenges of new personnel and new technologies while continuing to improve the safety of the work?
A transfer of knowledge at an unprecedented rate is now called for. We must call on the good practices and knowledge of current power generation team and formalize this into not just training materials, but an appropriate system. This will require significant allocation of resources and technologies, but also requires understanding of a proven improvement methodology. Many industries around the globe facing similar circumstances have turned to OHSAS 18001 as the blueprint and solution.
Unlike other purely compliance based documents, OHSAS 18001 is a management based standard. It starts by making clear that the responsibility for direction, provision of resources, metrics and improvement belongs with management. This Plan-Do-Check-Act structure has been successful in bringing vast improvements to worldwide quality (ISO 9001), the environment (ISO 14001) and several other key disciplines. Accepted around the world as evidence of organizational excellence in managing health and safety, OHSAS 18001 has already proven itself in power generation.
Ontario Power Generation, Siemens, and Crosby Dewar are just three power sector organizations that have benefited from the use of OHSAS 18001 and certification through a third party. While each has its own reasons for using the standard, the common thread is a concern for improving upon already good health and safety results. And after implementing OHSAS 18001, each reported a significant improvement in their Health and Safety metrics. In short, to do better, something significant had to change.
Consider some wisdom from Albert Einstein. After observing the human condition he once said that continuing to do the same thing in the same way and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity. To create meaningful change in health and safety results meaningful change in the way it is managed must take place. OHSAS 18001 is this change agent.
So what is OHSAS 18001? Simply, it requires organizations to put a system in place to support the Health and Safety Policy. Under the current Occupational Health and Safety Act, every organization must maintain a Policy. OHSAS 18001 goes further, requiring management to demonstrate that it has dedicated processes and methods in place supporting the policy. This is critical because often in court senior management is found culpable when it is proved that there was no system to support their Health and Safety Policy. Since the recent change to the Health and Safety Act, this culpability now leads to criminal convictions.
The courts are looking for due diligence in support of the Health and Safety Policy. The first area the courts look for support to the Policy is for a repeatable procedure for determining all the hazards associated with its operations. In short, has management provided a method to identify the hazards inherent in its operations. This inventory of hazards must then be evaluated against a consistent ranking methodology to determine the comparative level of risk that each hazard represents.
The method for determining risk will be unique to each organization. Some use a Failure Modes Effect Analysis, others a risk map. Regardless, the organization will include a component that recognizes the controls already in place to manage the hazards. Well managed hazards will have smaller residual risk. The importance of this portion of the standard should not be underestimated. It is this methodology that is one of the key requirements whenever an organization must prove due diligence to regulators and legal experts.
Once the hazards with the highest residual risk are identified, management is required to establish objectives and targets to improve performance. Assembled within the framework of a program, management is obligated to:
• Define the level and timing for improvement
• Assign the necessary resources and accountabilities
• Monitor progress through regular documented meetings
• Make corrections/improvements when progress is not satisfactory
• Continue to monitor all other hazards and take action when risks are realized
• Institute an internal audit method to ensure that the management system is operational
• Ensure the system is updated when business circumstances change.
This proven Plan-Do-Check-Act framework is what successful organizations have in common. However, most do not succeed in documenting this framework in their organizations without calling on specialized expertise in OHSAS 18001to augment their resources. Two kinds of assistance are the most prevalent.
OHSAS 18001 consulting expertise is the first type of assistance sought. Familiar with the content of the standard, the consultant would work with existing staff to ensure that all of the requirements are properly responded to. Additionally, the consultant will provide training to all personnel based on their role within the management system. This will include:
• Awareness training for operational personnel;
• Internal audit training for those selected to provide this service; and
• Executive overview training to clarify how each function contributes to the success of the system.
The second external resource that will be hired will be the registrar. This entity is responsible to provide a third party audit of the management system. Once successfully audited, the organization will be awarded an OHSAS 18001 Management System certificate. This can be used to demonstrate to the government, insurers, customers and employees that there is an ongoing commitment to Health and Safety. Certificates are kept valid through an annual audit by the registrar.
Typical OHSAS 18001 implementation time lines are six to nine months. The cost will vary depending upon the size and complexity of each organization. For a small organization that employs 30 or fewer people, the cost will be less than $8,500. Costs for larger organizations will be proportionate to their size.
Offsetting the investment in consulting and registration costs will be improved performance. Most organizations report savings through reduced incident rates and insurance costs that repay the professional services investment in the first 18 months. For example, let’s say your organization has on average two lost time days and eight reportable incidents a year. In lost time, this represents a cost of $500. Lost productivity, administration and increased insurance premiums add up to another $5,500 for a total cost of $6,000. Typical results for an implementing organization is to reduce their rate and thus costs by half in the first two years. In this example, this saves $6,000 every year.
The best way to learn more is to invite a consultant to your facility to assess your current efforts. A report will be generated letting you know what portions of the standard are already covered and where work remains to be done. From this initial assessment, an appropriate implementation plan can be generated and a price determined.
While implementing OHSAS 18001 is not without effort, the benefits are significant. Not only will there likely be a decrease in accident incident rates, benefits can also be expected in terms of employee morale. In these times where it is important for companies to retain the expertise they have, OHSAS 18001 can play a significant role. The time has come for our industry to take Health and Safety to a new level.