Lecture on Occupational Safety and Health Management System 02

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This post was last edited by slll611 on 2016-12-22 09:55. Regarding international development, the agreements reached in the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations state that countries should avoid creating non-tariff trade barriers and unfair trading practices due to differences in regulations and standards, and should strive to adopt international standards. In light of this, as early as the late 1980s and early 1990s, some multinational companies and large modern conglomerates, in order to enhance their social responsibility and mitigate losses, began to establish self-regulatory management systems for occupational safety, health, and environmental protection, gradually developing fairly comprehensive frameworks. Given the relevance between quality management, environmental management, and occupational safety and health management, in the mid-to-late 1990s, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) made efforts to develop the Occupational Safety and Health Standard Management System (OSHSMS) into a system on a scale similar to ISO9000 and ISO14000. From September 5 to 6, 1996, the ILO organized an international seminar on OSHMS standards. A total of 331 representatives from 44 countries and 6 international organizations including IEC, ILO, and WHO attended the seminar, where discussions were held on whether to establish an international standard for occupational safety and health management systems (OSHMS), but no consensus was reached on this matter. Subsequently, at the Technical Working Committee (TMB) meeting held in January 1997, ISO decided not to issue such standards for the time being. However, many ** and international organizations continue to develop this standard in their own countries or regions, such as Australia, Norway, Denmark, Spain, etc. Among them, Australia has the clearest stance, believing that since the work will have to be carried out sooner or later, it is better to do so as early as possible. There are also those who **emphasize the need to establish their own OSHMS systems, arguing that occupational safety and health issues are complex and involve matters such as workers’ rights, interests, and sovereignty; they do not believe that the time is ripe for the establishment of international standards. Nevertheless, they are working diligently to develop their own OSHMS standards. The UK issued BS8800, \"Guidelines on Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems\", in 1996** ； The American Industrial Hygiene Association has developed guiding documents on the \"Occupational Safety and Health Management System\" ； In 1997, Australia and New Zealand submitted a draft of the \"General Guidelines on Principles, Systems, and Support Techniques for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems\" ； The Japanese Industrial Safety and Health Association (JISHA) has issued the \"Guidelines for Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems\" ； DNV has established the \"Certification Standards for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems\" ； In 1999, 13 organizations including the British Standards Institution (BSI) and DNV Norway jointly developed a series of standards for occupational health and safety assessment, namely OHSAS18001: \"Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems – Requirements\", and OHSAS18002: \"Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems – Guidelines for the Implementation of OHSAS18001\". At the 15th World Conference on Occupational Safety and Health, held in Brazil in April 1999, a representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO) suggested that the ILO would introduce systems for evaluating corporate safety and health, as well as standardized management frameworks, in line with ILO Conventions No. 155 and No. 161, just as it does with ISO9000 and ISO14000; corporate safety and health conditions would be assessed one by one using established questionnaires. As we enter the new century, Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (OSHMS) have attracted greater international attention. Starting in 1998, the ILO began to develop documents for an international occupational safety and health management system; two meetings were held specifically to create an ILO OSHMS guide. Following consultations with ISO, a report promoting the implementation of OSHMS was published in February 2000, thereby turning OSHMS into an international initiative. In June 2001, at its 281st session, the ILO Council considered and approved the publication of the Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (ILO-OSH 2001), making the implementation of such systems one of the main priorities in the field of occupational safety going forward.