Hi folks, I have been using 18001 system now since 2011 but our organisation only became accredited in 2015.  Communication of the system to staff has always been a hurdle as its a vast document/system and because we have an array of different types of staff, i struggle to deliver adequate communication to staff according to auditors.  And when i say different types of staff i mean from admin staff, box office ticket staff to operations staff, electricians, building engineers, casual staff and agency staff.

My point is i struggle with the level of time i need to invest in communicating to staff as the auditor says I should be tailoring training sessions to suit the level of H&S the staff require or need to know i.e. box office staff dont need to know alot about electrical maintenance risk assessments etc.

Our auditor also states that each time we make a single variation of the system then we should have staff briefed again on the change and document this has happened.  I understand the need for this and am not questioning that but not all staff care that ive made a slight adjustment to a particular document or risk assessment or that a certain legislation has changed etc and that I'm more afraid of bombarding staff with to much information and them becoming switched off entirely when I have to inform them of changes made to the system. 

I was hoping some of you wouldnt mind shedding light on how communication with staff is dealt with in your work place.

I would currently email all staff or certain departmental mangers about any changes and make it clear that the system has been updated and that they need to ensure their departments are aware of changes, i also record this in a communication log so i have a record.  this is currently the only part of our managemnt system which we seem to fail on and im keen to move in the right direction but need guidance folks.

Sorry for the lengthy post!! 

Brian 

Hi Brian, 

If your company have a monthly newsletter/bulletin you could put a section in there detailing any minor changes you have made to documents. If it is a major change you have made though, it would always be best to contact the affected staff directly.

You could also advise in your newsletter/bulletin which employees each minor change will affect and encourage that group of staff to read any updated documents and get in contact with you with any queries.

I've had similar feedback from auditors and ultimately what they seemed to want was staff to sign something stating they had read and understood the changes.  This appeared to me to be just to be a paper-generating exercise and all it provided evidence of is that staff signed a bit of paper they were told to sign.  

What we ended up doing was having Quality Management System as a standard agenda items on team meetings. A summary of changes were emailed monthly to managers and they were asked to briefly go over this at their formal team meetings and record it in the minutes.  That way there was evidence that those who attended the meeting were made aware of the changes, and those who did not attend were given a copy of the minutes (evidence by email record).  Would something like this work for you?

Sam

Edited by user 09 January 2017 09:18:47(UTC)  | Reason: typo

Thanks guys, I shall take your suggestions on board.  I also have to do this with a team of 23 brain dead ice hockey players, would be easier to educate pork!!  Something ironic about explaining employee health & safety to workers who get hit with a solid rubber puck at 80+mph

Brian