Depends on the existng internal resources vc! As a starter, I would expect there to be at least one competent H&S professional to be a registered Lead Auditor for OHSAS18001. This so you have the in-house knowledge and understanding to ensure that any contractor is providing what you need rather than what they would like to charge you for and also enables you to run it from within once it's been accredited. Frank Hallett.

Some guidance on the BSI web-site: http://www.bsigroup.com/...ional-health-and-safety/ This will include a gaps analysis tool to gauage your readiness. As others have said the best place to start is a comparison of the normative references between 9001/14001 & 18001 and in a lot of areas you couldn't get a fag paper between them to be honest.....a cynic could have a field day! If you are an SME might be best to look at getting an integrated management system manual to bring everything together again the standards are so closely related in many cases this is not a big day out and actually may be a lot better in terms of fit for your organisation rather than having seperate systems. Finally be aware of the costs - the certification bodies will tell you this is a multi stage process and will charge per day for the initial certification and then have annual audits on top of this - check with your current provider to get a budget cost which will allow your management to determine whether it is commercially viable. Hope this helps.

Thank you to everyone who has responded to this thread, I am now happier in how to approach to this in a more systematic way. vicki