Andrea Aulisi
February 3, 2015
The advantages of integration between multiple management systems are known to everybody, but I have never heard about quantitative measures (or at least estimates!) of the benefit of integrating. According to my data, based on an economic control system before and after the integration, the time saved by implementing integrated 9001/18001 varies from 40 to 60% versus having two different systems. And, this doesn’t count benefits in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and quality!
Many common points stand out when integrating ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001 management systems so they can be exploited for an integrated approach. There are many processes in common, as we will see later, that lead to a very interesting series of synergies with consequent saving of time, money, and even better results.
In the next two years the structure of the standards will further converge according to ISO Annex SL, making both standards (ISO 9001 in 2015, OHSAS 18001 maybe in 2017) aligned by adopting a unique structure in 10 clauses:
And, this structure will be common to all the ISO family norms in the world (the first was 22301 in 2012).
However, the integration of ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001 is particularly delicate because the rules cover different business risks.
In fact, while ISO 9001 is centered on the “core” business activities of the company and analyzes risks to quality, OHSAS 18001 addresses issues for safety, and therefore activities not related to production. Specific safety requirements of OHSAS 18001 can be implemented separately from one another, and this will positively affect the integration of other elements:
The most natural answer to this question comes from the common ground where both standards were born: Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle. This well-known cycle of improvement has helped hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide to improve year after year for the past 20 years.
The first phase of the cycle, Plan, is when you design the entire system, and when the vision of the system is fulfilled. The following questions (along with a few others – see next paragraph for a complete list) are the basis of the construction of the integrated management system according to ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001:
We can now establish a set of contact points to begin to integrate these two very important rules. The contact points are:
It appears evident that the similarities of the two standards are so wide that integration can bring great benefits to the System Management; however, there are some aspects that make this operation delicate, because the risks to quality are different from health & safety risks.
It is definitely possible to integrate ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001: in my experience, when I first completed an ISO 9001 / ISO 14001 integration project (see also this article: Integrating ISO 9001 and ISO 14001) with a safety management system, OHSAS 18001 didn’t exist as a standard yet. After many years and many integrated systems, I can say that integrating OHSAS 18001 in a company that respects safety standards and is ISO 9001 compliant is a feasible job, especially for those who have solid experience, and it can be done within a few days of work.