Using ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational health and safety management systems – requirements with guidance for use) to Reduce Risks in Manufacturing.
- mcphersonqualityma
- Aug 29, 2024
- 2 min read
Initial situation
This post focuses on a family owned company in the aluminium industry. The company has been in existence for 60 years. 400 people are employed across two locations that are about 30 minutes apart. They have experienced organic growth they have reinvested in items such as new equipment.
Existing issues
This company was experiencing some issues such as inadequate incident investigation leading to a lack of identification of root causes. The employees also did not have an understanding of health and safety. For example, they did not know the differences between hazards (potential danger), risk (probability of danger), control measures (PPE including heat-resistant gloves) and what should be expected. Having no clear roles and responsibilities concerning health and safety was also a source of frustration. To make a bad situation worse is that the HSE Manager was also the Maintenance Manager.
A gap analysis report also revealed that health and safety inspections and audits were not being done; no objectives concerning health and safety existed and there no processes and systems in place.
However, this company had ISO 9001:2015 certification and management wondered if implementing ISO 45001:2018 could be an answer to the health and safety problems. They wanted to have confirmation by a third party such an external auditor so that they could let their suppliers and customers know.
To this end, a consultant was hired. One of the first things that the consultant did was to used section 0.3 Success Factors, ISO 45001:2018 to do another gap analysis. This was given to management, supervisor and production workers. The answers varied significantly.
Corrective Action
Based on the review using section 0.3, since the organization already was familiar with the ‘ISO language’ in some key cases integration was done. There was already software used for conducting corrective action based on identified root causes for the Quality System and those for Health and Safety were included. Management Review was expanded to include Health and Safety and the same was done for Management of Change.
A cross-functional team collaborated on a new incident management software and there was a massive revamping of health and safety programs.
Results
There was a 50% reduction in injuries and these were less severe. There was greater participation in decision-making by worker and this demonstrated ownership. A health and safety policy with buy-in from employees was established.
Kereen R. McPherson
CEO/Founder
KRMcPherson Quality Management (KQM)
LI: Ms Kereen (Rianna) McPherson
1-868-761-8206
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