In Australia, states and territories are responsible for making laws about OH&S and for enforcing those laws. Each state and territory has a principal OH&S Act which sets out requirements for ensuring that workplaces are safe and healthy. Under OH&S legislation, companies are obliged to provide safe premises; safe machinery and substances; safe systems of work; information, instruction, training and supervision; and a suitable working environment and facilities.

Through the OH&S management systems scheme, JAS-ANZ and accredited Certification Bodies (CBs) are helping a growing number of organisations to better manage the risks associated with being in business. A company with OH&S management system certification should enjoy a reduction of workplace illness and injury, minimising the costs associated with workplace accidents.

OH&S is a significant and growing area for JAS-ANZ and for CBs. JAS-ANZ offers accreditation to CBs for seven OH&S management system standards including AS/NZS 4801:2001; OHSAS 18001:2007; WorkSafe Victoria’s National Self Insurer OHS Audit Tool (NAT) and SafetyMAP;  IS 18001:2000 (a variant of OHSAS 18001 adapted for Indian conditions); Chinese standard GB 28001:2000; and Singapore standard SS 506: Part 1: 2004.

Most companies who opt for OH&S certification have been requested to do so by their parent company, they may have a customer who requires it, or tenders that offer potential business opportunities may specify certification.

Geoff Scrivener, SHEQ & TS Product Manager, SGS, (pictured left) points out that for company directors, complying with legislation to avoid not just fines, but jail terms, is a strong driver. “When they see incidents reducing and the bottom line starting to improve, however, they understand that certification has a benefit after all. And large companies look at it differently and regard it as only a small percentage of the cost of doing business anyway.”

To certify or not to certify?

So, why should a company consider becoming certified to OH&S if it already complies with legislation?

Ben Bowering, Strategy & Development Manager, SAI Global, points out that the process of undergoing certification helps companies identify a methodical and sustainable approach to complying with legislation.  “The senior OH&S manager will be confident because the systems are in place to make sure of it,” he says. “In AS/NZS 4801, for example, you have a methodology in place to investigate an issue, you can look through records, find the weak point in the process and build something into the system. It's much easier to identify where the issue is when a system is in place.”

Steve Naylor, Business Centre Manager Australasia, Vice President - LRQA South Asia, agrees that although the cost of certification is obvious, the benefits are not as easy to quantify. “Stakeholder confidence, improved OH&S performance, employee morale, good corporate governance, and so on are generally not seen to immediately outweigh the expense,” he says. “Better employee productivity and enhanced stakeholder loyalty have obvious benefits in the medium to longer term. Development of a system and continued certification show employees that this is not another management initiative that will just fade away over time. As management has to remain involved to maintain certification, it sends a good message to staff.”

Alan Trivett, Client Manager, BSI Management Systems, (pictured left) says that although implementing an efficiently run OH&S system makes sound business sense, it may be some time before the company will enjoy the monetary benefits. “Some of the barriers to organisations taking it up initially are the cost and the documentation requirements. These are issues particularly for smaller organisations because they tend to have more limited resources,” he explains. “Once this initial cost has been overcome, the cost benefits kick in and are accumulated year on year. As an example, many organisations will receive reduced insurance premiums based on lower accident and incident numbers.”

A systematic approach to managing safety is the best way to achieve a sustainable and consistent level of employee safety, says Naylor. “The main cost is in developing and implementing a comprehensive management system that works for each individual company,” he says.” The additional cost of having it externally audited for certification is usually only a tiny portion of the cost of developing the system.”

According to SAI Global’s Bowering, the cost of non-compliance is probably much higher than investing in a decent management system. “It offers the ability to report, to make timely decisions so that they can avoid that human and financial cost,” he explains.

SGS’s Scrivener observes that many of his clients take a couple of years to figure out that it helps them to better control their existing and potential risks. “Initially they think that it’s bureaucracy gone wild, but then their business starts to enjoy very big savings and benefits,” he says.

According to LRQA’s Naylor, companies that undertake the comprehensive due diligence that is required to attain an accreditation such as ISO18001 have a better understanding of their health and safety challenges and are therefore more effective at managing them. “A systems approach to safety management that is based on a recognised standard provides an organisation with a framework for identifying and managing legal requirements, corporate governance and risk management. As a successful company grows, these issues become more complex, particularly for medium-to-large organisations, which may find it difficult to manage the process without the tradition of a structured approach.”

Scrivener agrees. “If you want certification to OH&S to help you know what’s happening in your business and help you control what’s going on in your business, eventually you’ll have such a great handle on what’s going on you’ll be able to trim your costs and reduce your overheads to such an extent that you’ll probably out-compete everyone else,” he says. “But you have to realise that initially, it’s going to be an expense for you.”

Certification = Confidence = Commitment

LRQA’s Naylor advises that a company should consider certification if it wants to provide confidence to interested parties such as regulators, employees, shareholders and customers that it has an organised and systematic approach to achieving a safe workplace, rather than leaving it to chance; demonstrate that management is seriously committed to employee safety; demonstrate a serious approach to managing all business risks; and has its management systems tested to determine whether its effectiveness matches its perception.

“Certification provides a degree of confidence to stakeholders that a company’s safety management is audited for effectiveness by an external body accredited by JAS-ANZ,” Naylor says. “Organisations can use the certification to demonstrate commitment to best practice and corporate-governance principles relating to OH&S.”

Auditors are trainers and mentors too

“OH&S is a reasonably straightforward message to sell; the purpose is to keep people safe and healthy,” Bowering remarks. “How you make that happen at your facility, however, is a fairly difficult thing to achieve.”

Scrivener says many of SGS’s clients in the construction industry choose OH&S certification because of the level of confidence a third-party auditor offers their high-risk business. “They get great value from someone coming through and being a partner with them,” he says. “The auditor almost becomes their trainer and mentor as part of the audit process. The art of a good third-party auditor is to try to add value.”

Naylor agrees. “Part of the certification benefit is the opportunity to learn from the auditor,” he says. ”The development of an organisation’s management system frequently is undertaken by employees with only limited experience and knowledge. Certification audits are an opportunity for them to benchmark what they have developed against industry best practice, leveraging the knowledge of experienced people who can evaluate what they have and how well it works.”

Bowering warns that a common difficulty for auditors and CBs is that many companies have several management systems (quality, environment, food, OH&S) and incorporate all these requirements in one set of policies and procedures. “We need to integrate systems and duration of audits, and levels of compliance. Businesses are becoming leaner,” he says. “We need to find the right level of reporting of risk to make sure all requirements are covered off as efficiently and effectively as possible while avoiding overlaps or gaps.”

More information for CBs interested in becoming accredited for OH&S Management Systems.

Organisations interested in learning more about the benefits of certification to an OH&S standard can contact CBs accredited by JAS-ANZ for OH&S Management Systems.