OHSAS18001:2007 is the latest certification specification for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems. It is an audit/certification specification, not a legislative requirement or a guide to implementation.
Registration to OHSAS18001 by an independent, third party, certification body demonstrates a commitment to implement, maintain and improve the way in which Health and Safety systems are managed.
Being registered to OHSAS18001 means we are confident in meeting the requirements of Health and Safety legislation. The setting of targets through the Health and Safety policy, together with the on-going measurement, ensures a process of continual improvement.
Empire has identified key issues and pledges to:
- Prevent injury, accident or incident.
- Comply with the current OH&S (Occupational Health and Safety) legislation.
- Make the management system appropriate to the size, nature, scale and complexity of the business. It is an essential part of our IMS and it is reviewed regularly.
- Make a commitment to continually improving health and safety performance.
- Accept responsibility for the health and safety of people who may be affected by our activities. This includes employees, visitors, neighbours and the public.
- Provide and maintain safe and healthy working conditions, safe equipment, and safe systems of work for all our employees, subcontractors, visitors and the public as far as reasonably practical.
- Comply with ‘site rules’, and any other requirements, when working away from our base. In the absence of a host’s site rules, we will apply our own standards of safety and proceed with caution.
- Identify hazards, risks and control measures, then set in place a programme to reduce risks. This can include preventive and protective measures. To provide information, instruction, training and supervision, to ensure personal safety at work.
- Document, implement and maintain an IMS, in line with OHSAS 18001 and BS 8800.
- Communicate to all employees with the intention of making staff aware of the safety arrangements.
- Clearly define the allocation of duties for safety matters.
We became ISO18001:2007 certified in April 2012. Health and safety in the workplace is vital for ensuring the staff and stakeholders working for, or on our behalf, are kept safe and not put at risk. Risk assessments and risk management strategies are in place to prevent and eliminate potential problems. Regular meetings are setup to inform people of changes in circumstance.