Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems

Abstract

The concept of occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) has become increasingly popular among the stakeholders to assure compliance with the requirements of OHS controls. The emphatic endeavor is visible in applying management framework to implement cost-effective OHS and assisting governments, employers, and employees to better target their priorities in the prevention of workplace injuries and diseases (Robson et al., 2007; Fernandez-Muniz et al., 2009; Stolk et al., 2012). Revolving around the families of International Standards Organization (ISO) management standards—such as ISO 9000 quality management, ISO 14000 environmental management, ISO 26000 social responsibility, ISO 22000 food safety management—the systems approach has drawn the attention of the standards organizations, accreditation bodies, and the national regulatory agencies in formalizing, implementing, and evaluating the OHS management framework. Several national standards, proprietary, and sectoral schemes on OHSMS have been deployed, aiming at building a documented approach to OHS improvement in the enterprises and bringing visibility to its business objectives (Nag & Nag, 2003; Saksvik & Quinlan, 2003; Cambon, 2007). This contribution elucidates the core characteristics of OHSMS, the outlines and updates of national and sectoral OHSMS models, key features of system documentation requirements for certification and/or contractual obligations, trends of country-specific acceptance of OHSMS models, and analyses of the effectiveness and challenges of the management systems in diverse sectors of employment.