OH&S management systems

To ensure that important occupational health and safety (OH&S) issues are not overlooked, employers need to adopt a systematic approach to managing health and safety and establish an OH&S management system (OH&SMS).

The starting point in establishing a management system that is effective in solving health and safety problems is for health and safety to be an integral part of the management function. No matter how systems are developed, to be effective, there are generally five elements of an OH&SMS:

• Management commitment and policy
• Planning
• Implementation
• Measurement and evaluation
• Review and improvement

Where do I start?

An effective OH&SMS needs to be a proactive system which is fully supported by the company from management to employee level. People need to be adequately consulted and included in OH&S and trained effectively to give them the knowledge and capability to make the system work effectively.

Every organisation will be at different levels in relation to their OH&SMS. A good place to start when looking at improving your OH&SMS is to undertake a review by referring to the MLA OH&S Reference Guide (Online). In this you will find a section on OH&SMS in which you can review your OH&SMS against the key elements.

For those with more advanced OH&SMS, you can refer to

AS/NZ 4804: Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems in which a very systematic guide for improvements is documented.