O, Canada! Now you have your own national standard for safety and health management systems. The first ever Canadian consensus-based standard was issued by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) in March 2006. Entitled CSA Z1000-06 Occupational Health and Safety Management, the standard provides a model for developing and implementing an occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS). Here's a capsule summary.

Safety, But with a Business Purpose

The purpose of CSA Z1000-06 is to enable an organization to advance its OHS performance by establishing, maintaining and/or improving an OHSMS. By doing so, the organization will be better able to identify, eliminate or control hazards and risks while ensuring conformity with OHS policy.

But Z1000-06 was crafted for another reason. In addition to significant safety and health benefits, the intent of the standard is to help organizations achieve other business goals including improvement in productivity, financial performance and quality.

How the Standard Works

The standard is structured in accordance with the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) approach common to other management system standards, such as ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001. The PDCA approach provides an overall framework for managing preventive and protective measures, emergency preparedness, training, procurement issues, documentation, legal and other safety-related requirements.

The intent is for the OHSMS to incorporate all standard requirements. But the extent of the application will depend on the circumstances particular to each organization, such as the nature and location of its operations and the conditions under which it functions.

According to CSA, implementing the standard encourages  - a more systematic approach to meeting defined OHS objectives and helps increase awareness of health and safety in the workplace. It also motivates Canadian organizations to implement an OHSMS that meets the requirements of a recognized standard and forms a framework through which other Canadian OHS standards can be applied.

A Canadian Flavor

Canadian OHS laws are based on a theory called the Internal Responsibility System (IRS) in which workplace stakeholders, including management and workers, work together for their own health and safety. CSA Z1000-06 is steeped in the IRS tradition. Specifically, it stresses the need for worker participation in the operation of the management system, ensuring that all parties contribute to the organization's success.

Organizations can demonstrate adherence to the standard by making a self-determination and self-declaration. Organizations can self-declare their conformance to the CSA Z1000 standard through their own resources, through an outside party (independent of the organization) or by gaining certification/registration of its OHSMS by a management systems registrar.

Potential Impact

The CSA Z1000-06 represents an important step in the evolution of the practice of safety. Realistically, I would suggest it can be expected that over time it will become the Canadian benchmark against which safety and health management systems will be measured.

SH&E practitioners must not ignore the long range impact Z1000-06 will have on societal expectations concerning the quality of safety management systems that employers have in place, and on the expectations employers will have concerning the knowledge and capabilities of SH&E personnel.

Conclusion

Safety practitioners from Canadian organizations would be prudent to study the requirements of CSA Z1000-06 and determine if they have what it takes to put them into place. If not, they should acquire the necessary skills. The end result will be to further their organization's performance and their own personal career success.

SYSTEMS SCORECARD

Quick Overview of the Main OHS Management Systems

By Glenn Demby

Like me, some of you might not know a whole heck of a lot about OHS and other Management Systems. So as a public service for those who don't know their ISO from their elbow, SafetyXChange has assembled the key management systems into an easy scorecard. Here are the players:

CSA Z1000-06

• Issued 2006 by the Canadian Standards Association
• See Wayne's story above for a description

OHSAS 18001

• Short for "Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series"
• Issued 1999 by 23 certification bodies and international safety organizations
• Mostly used by U.S. organizations
• Requires businesses to demonstrate that their systems pro-actively seek to minimize risks
• Adoptees subject to review by accreditation bodies

ILO-OSH 2001

• Known as Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems ILO-OSH 2001
• Issued 2001 by the International Labor Organization
• Unlike OHSAS 18001, doesn't involve certification of organizations

HSG65

• Issued 1991 by the UK Health and Safety Executive (the British equivalent to OSHA)
• One of the first OHS management systems but has been revised and modernized
• Follows PDCA - plan, do, check, act - principle (see below for more on PDCA)
• Mostly followed by UK businesses

ANSI Z10

• Issued by the American National Standard Institute in 2005
• Designed to offer American businesses an American model

ISO 14000

• A series of standards covering not health and safety but environmental activities
• Issued by the International Standards Organization
• The oldest, best known and most participated-in management system
• Based on PDCA model

OSHA VPP

• Stands for "Voluntary Protection Program"
• Established by OSHA in 1982 for companies that want to voluntary submit to more rigorous standards
• Involves certification
• Almost 2,000 participants

MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS-SPEAK

"PDCA" Model

By Glenn Demby

As Wayne mentions in his story, several management systems standards, including ISO 14000 and the new CSA Z1000-06, incorporate the so-called PDCA model. PDCA stands for:

P lanning: Hazard identification and risk assessment, among other things;

D oing: Implementing solutions including engineering, administrative and work controls;

C hecking: Assessing the performance of solutions to determine how effectively they're working;

A cting: Making continual improvements and adjustments to those solutions.

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