Having a health & safety management system is very important for many businesses in Ireland today.

OHSAS 18001 is a Health & Safety Management System that is widely respected and has proved to be extremely valuable to many companies, particularly in the construction sector.   Here we share some interesting facts that are provided by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).

There are sound economic reasons for reducing work-related accidents and ill-health, as well as ethical and regulatory reasons.

Economic Reasons

Besides reducing costs, effective safety and health management promotes business efficiency. Thousands of work-related accidents, resulting in more than three days off work are reported to the Health and Safety Authority each year. Work-related diseases and ill-health are more difficult to measure due to their long latency period but result in excess of one million days lost at work each year. These accident and ill-health cases are due to failures and deficiencies in the occupational safety and health management in organisations.

Legal Reasons

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (the 2005 Act) requires all duty holders to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare of workers and members of the public and to manage and conduct all work activities in such a way as to ensure their safety, health and welfare. This requires all who have this legal responsibility to be proactive in managing their safety, health and welfare responsibilities and deal with them in a systematic way. This section should help organisations to improve their safety and health performance by providing advice on how safety and health should be managed, and in the process help them to comply with their legal requirements.

Moral and Ethical Reasons

The proactive management of safety and health in the workplace helps organisations prevent injuries and ill-health at work. This guidance should help organisations reduce the personal loss caused as a result of accidents and ill-health at work.

The health and safety of your team should be high on your list of priorities.  If you work in a particularly risky industry such as construction then you may consider implementing a health and safety management system.  OHSAS 18001 is widely accepted as a valuable tool in ensuring businesses are not only compliant with all legislation but are also prioritising the wellbeing of their workforce.

For more information about OHSAS 18001 or to see how this can be incorporated into your ISO 9001 quality management system please contact us today.
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