ABS Receives OHSAS 18001 Certification

To ABS, health and safety in the workplace are as important as the safety services it provides to clients. To deliver on the business of safety requires an internal culture that is understood and followed by all employees.

An independent survey of the ABS safety culture in 2011identified good existing awareness and safety practices that could be leveraged, provided greater attention is paid to safety awareness, communication and employee engagement.

It was the beginning of a three-year program that achieved a significant milestone in late 2013 with the award of OHSAS 18001:2007 certification, an internationally recognized standard covering the specifications of an occupational health and safety management system.

The internal safety campaign that followed the 2011 audit sought improvements to specific procedures and a comprehensive revision of the ABS Health and Safety Manual. Divisional safety improvement teams were founded and a safety briefings program implemented, along with the ABS employee incident reporting system.

A second independent global survey in 2012 showed ABS had achieved a strong position in health and safety and that its health and safety management system was well established.

Near miss reporting  had continued to rise, reaching 545 reports in 2013. This growth was considered positive since an increased total of near misses meant a lower number of injuries. ABS accomplished its 2012 targeted lost-time incident index (LTII) reduction of 50 percent to 0.14. By 2013, the LTII had come down to 0.07.

ABS also established an annual worldwide ABS Safety Day in 2012 and created the Golden Eagle award to recognize employees who exhibit exemplary dedication to ABS safety.

Since the very beginning of the safety management system implementation, ABS had considered how to bring system certification under a recognized accreditation program. At the beginning of 2013, the ABS Health and Safety Committee instructed the OHS department to proceed with certification to OHSAS 18001.

The process to obtain OHSAS certification commenced in March 2013 with an analysis of the ABS Health and Safety Management System, which found that while there were areas that needed improvement, ABS was voluntarily ahead of many requirements addressed by the standard.

Inspection agency SGS carried out 17 audits between September and October 2013, granting certification to ABS by year-end 2013.

The merging of the OHS department with the Health, Safety, Quality and Environment (HSQE) department under Adam Moilanen, ABS Vice President, HSQE, will make possible the integration of resources and compliance with internal audits in the near future.