FEBRUARY 2019 LEGISLATION
those in the West, lives cut short from ill-health
resulting from long exposure to dust and toxic
substances are also a serious issue, and not just
in the third world.
Even in Britain, reports the UK’s Health
and Safety Executive, there were 2,595 asbestosrelated
mesothelioma deaths in 2016, with a
similar number of deaths due to asbestos-related
lung cancer. The death rate has increased steeply
over the last 50 years, it notes, largely as a result
of asbestos exposure prior to 1980, and is now
expected to continue at current levels for the
rest of the decade before declining. Overall, it
estimates, there are 12,000 preventable lungdisease
deaths each year in the UK that are
attributable to past exposure at work to toxic
dust and fibres. In addition, 1.4 million workers
suffer work-related ill-health.
A cause for celebration
All of which, says Wayne Dunning, head of health
and safety at occupational health specialists
ELAS, is “heart-wrenching”. “What makes it
worse,” he adds, “is that it is avoidable. For
health and safety professionals, the introduction
of ISO 45001 is a cause for celebration, helping
to provide organisations with a safe and healthy
work environment for workers and visitors.
The world’s first international standard for
occupational health and safety, it provides
a robust and effective set of processes for
improving work safety in global supply chains.”
Moreover, say health and safety professionals,
ISO 45001 improves on OHSAS 18001 in terms
of the management and monitoring overhead
necessary to achieve – and
maintain – compliance. In
common with many other ISO
standards, for instance, its
management system approach
follows Deming-style Plan Do
Check Act (PDCA) principles,
which are already familiar to
many manufacturers. In short,
an assessment of occupational
health and safety risks and
opportunities is followed by
planning appropriate health
and safety objectives and
processes. These are then
implemented, and their
effectiveness and operation
monitored. Finally, actions take
place to improve and fine-tune
these processes, increasing
their effectiveness.
Even better, adds Steve
Stubley, group technical
director at ISO 45001 auditing
and certifying body Alcumus,
all new ISO standards now
follow a consistent format,
structured around a number
“Compared to OHSAS 18001,
there is much less emphasis
on documented procedures”
Steve Stubley, group technical director, Alcumus (left)
of clauses sharing the same
headings.
“This is a major change
and ensures that integration
of different standards is
much simpler and less costly
to implement. It means that
the integrated auditing of
standards such as ISO 9001,
ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 is
made much easier as there
are many common elements.
Compared to OHSAS 18001,
there is much less emphasis
on documented procedures,
and much more emphasis on
documented information as
evidence of control.”
And with tough new
sentencing guidelines for gross
negligence manslaughter being
in place since 1 November last
year, being able to demonstrate
that evidence of control takes
on even greater importance.
Although the highest sentences
will apply to those with
‘blatant disregard to risk of
death’, sentences for mediumculpability
cases have also
been toughened, points out
Simon Fabian, a risk advisor at
risk management specialists
Cowens Group.
“The new sentence lengths
are categorised by level of
culpability in the case of a
fatality, and it is important to
note that they can still apply
even if the event was a unique
lapse in otherwise good health
and safety standards,” he notes.
“Procedures may be in place,
signs may be up, and staff may
be briefed, but it is essential
that senior members of the
business lead by example when
it comes to duty of care – chief
executives, directors, health
and safety managers, as well
as other members of staff can
all now be convicted under
these guidelines.”
That said, as Alcumus’
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