The contractor Corps Security has gained certification to OHSAS 18001, the occupational health and safety management systems standard. This stands alongside the company’s ISO 9001 quality management and ISO 14001 environmental management systems certifications.
About OHSAS 18001
Briefly, OHSAS 18001 is based upon the ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’ structure pioneered by the American quality authority, W Edwards Deming, in the 1950s. This structure is used to ensure that the hazards and risks associated with Corps’s activities and services are identified, assessed, controlled, monitored and continuously improved.
Gains from certification, the security firm says, include a decrease in the number of incidents and accidents, reduced staff absence and lower employee and public liability insurance premiums. It also shows internal and external stakeholders of Corps’s commitment to health and safety.
To gain OHSAS 18001 Corps had its occupational health and safety management system audited and verified by a third party certification body. The process involved an initial assessment of documentation to ascertain that it met all the standard. This was followed by audits to check that records were being kept and documented working practices were being followed – not only within its national network of offices, but in the delivery of its services at customer premises.
Compliance does not stop there. OHSAS 18001 requires a programme of improvement, which will be monitored through visits to ensure that the system is maintained and is continuing to be effective.
As Corps Security already has ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications, it now has the three quality management system standards in place. To avoid duplication in areas such as management review, document control, corrective action and the requirement for trained staff, the company has integrated all three into a single system.
Nick Gilroy is Corps Security’s quality and compliance manager. He said: ‘We are delighted to be one of the first security services providers to gain OHSAS 18001 certification – something that demonstrates our commitment to excellence in all areas of our business activities. Although this latest achievement means that we have the key triumvirate of ISO 9001, ISO 140001 and OHSAS 18001, there’s always room for improvement. As such, we are already preparing to adopt the proposed ISO 45001 standard, which is set to replace OHSAS 18001 in 2016.’
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