OHS Management: Key Factors to Ensure Successful Outcomes

Out of all the tasks essential for the safe and efficient operations of a company, nothing comes even close to being as important as Occupational health and safety systems, or simply OHS systems. Why is that? Well, the answer lies in the role they play: As the name implies, such systems are primarily tasked with the job of ensuring occupational health and safety across an organization. Suffice it to say that OHS systems have much to do and to do that as planned, you don’t only need robust technology, but also a proper plan. To help ensure that as well, here are some factors that are an absolute must for any successful OHS system.

    1. Emergency response plan: No OHS management system worth its salt is ever complete without an emergency response plan. This is because an emergency response plan will allow you to do everything that needs to be done, in a proper manner, and at the right time, instead of leaving you in the dark about how to proceed when faced with an actual emergency. Some key points that your plan for emergencies should cover are: Reporting the emergency, assembly points, evacuation plan, medical duty assignments, etc. Besides all this information, do not forget to include critical pieces of information such as about medical facilities, local hospitals, and emergency assistance procedures among other things.

    2. Regular audit schedule: One of the most effective ways to not only ensure high levels of safety for your employees at work but also see to it that compliance is achieved and maintained at all times is via regular audits. Doing audits periodically also serves to help companies identify any potential problems in the OHS management system and address them before it escalates into a full-blown issue. Oh, and feel free to run either internal audits or get external help to do it — as long as they are done regularly, you are golden. Oh, and don’t forget that all the paperwork you gather from these audits too is useful — they can be used to gauge year-over-year performance, determine risks, etc. You can also use it to set up new initiatives to ensure better levels of safety.

    3. Risk assessments: Proper assessment of risks is a critical part of the efforts to ensure the success of maintaining ace levels of safety at work. And let’s not forget that when done properly, a risk assessment will also safeguard you against lawsuits and prosecution from government authorities. You can fortify your risk assessment efforts by first informing your employees about the potential hazards. One must then also use this information to determine any potential for improvement as far as compliance is concerned and address it right away.

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