Posted By rstewart I have been asked to update a very old partially completed risk and relevance matrix which forms part of the legal register for my organisation's external accreditation to OHSAS 18001. In my opinion the legal register is very good and comprehensive however the risk relevance matrix linked to it is way too complicated. I'd very much appreciate if someone else would be able to advise me on how to make it simpler. I have to take into account (if possible) the numbers of employees, the activities they undertake and therefore the likelihood of harm and the relevance all this has to the legislation. We have to do this to demonstrate to our external accreditor that we are complying with OHSAS 18001. Bearing in mind my organisation is a local government body with thousands of employees in a wide variety of disciplines. I hope I have made my request clear! Any pointers or advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Posted By bereznikov Hi rstewart "Evaluated for Applicability" basically means checking whether the piece of legislation is relevant to your organisation. For example, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations would be relevant to your organisation, whereas the Ionising Radiation Regulations won't be unless you use such equipment. There are a lot of update services available that send you email/mail giving a brief summary of any new/amended legislation for you to check if it will apply to your organisation. Just as good (and how i do it) is basically to check the HSE website, OPSI, DEFRA etc for any upcoming legislative changes/introductions then evaluate if they will apply to my organisation. Once you have identified which laws apply, it is then basically about producing a matrix table to contain it for your records. I would also recommend keeping e-copies of the actual legislation itself, as i have been asked once whether the company has quick access to the H&S legislation that applies to it. I hope this helps? bereznikov

Posted By Jay Joshi Or could for each piece of applicable legilations have additional information/assessment with the follwing headings:- Intent & Scope of the Legislation List of Approved Codes of Practice and Guidance etc Impact on the organisation--need not be risk matrix based --your choice? Actions, Communication & Training required Measures to monitor the effectiveness of the Actions/requirements (could be inspections, audits i.e leading indicators)

Posted By rstewart Hi Jay Joshi Thanks for the reply and I will certainly consider your suggestions. They have definitely given me food for thought and it appears to be much easier to do it this way than the ridiculously over complicated relevancy matrix we are doing at the moment. Thanks Hi Mandy It is me!! See I do listen to you sometimes!

Posted By Steve Clark Hi, i had a very interesting conversation with an overseas 18001 auditor recently, it went something like this: Me: putting together a legal register is a lengthy process Him: why are you doing that, you don't need one. All you need is to be able to demonstrate that you have a system in place that knows the law, interprets in in light of your organisation and can produce work instructions or guidance to ensure your organisation complies with it. Me: oh - really Him: yes really, any auditor who insists on one is making it up; but unfortunately a lot of audits ask for it Food for thought eh? I know my auditor asks for it.

Posted By Safety officer Agreed. How are you going to show that you have identified all your applicable legislation if you cannot show that in some form or another? A list or matrix would do the job wouldn't it? and some people may even call this a register ;-)