Posted By david cairns Hello Folks and Happy Holidays to you all. A quick one for you all! We have just had a pre-assessment from a consultancy, helping us to achieve 18001 and I am looking some advice and help from you all here. I have completed my risk assessments for various activities; have been told by this consultancy that we need to expand them before the independent assessor comes in. If any of you have completed a risk assessment for excavators, loading shovels, dumpers within a quarry environment and have achieved 18001. I would be grateful if you would let me have a copy of your risk assessment so I can compare the two. As far as we can see, we have covered all known hazards, identified those at risk, put control measures in place, with the correct training etc and severity-likelihood- risk ratings, etc. What more can I do? And before anyone else says it “get the consultancy firm to help you” I want some impendent advice. Your help will be gratefully received. Dingbat

Posted By Frank Hallett As an independant consultant, if I was in the position of your Consultancy, I would not just say "you need to do more"; I would also identify the tagets and standards that you should consider - in effect, what you need to achieve the Standard. Frank Hallett

Posted By Nigel Hammond Risk Assessments are a key part of OHSAS 18001. However, there is so much more to OHSAS 18001 than risk assessments. Make sure you also address each of these; policy statement, responsibilities of each level of management, Consultation and flow of health & safety information, systems for setting health and safety objectives (Corporate and departmental), procedures for training plans, inspections and auditing, annual reviews and systems for recording and archiving information. The best thing to do is to get a copy of OHSAS 18001 and write next to each standard how you intend to implement it. It may seem daunting at first but most of it is common sense if you break it down into manageable chunks.