Managing Change - An Occupational Health and Safety Perspective

OHSAS stands for Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series. It was developed to help organizations control and minimize Occupation Hazards and Risks. The 2007 version of OHSAS 18001 lays a strong emphasis on Change. Occupational Health, Safety Assurance Standards are today adopted by many organizations as part of their corporate governance requirements. Managing the change is not a simple exercise. Change can hit an organization all of sudden or it can sometime be regulated and planned. An agile and a flexible organization will respond to change in much more positive way than an organization with rigid and straight jacketed setup.

It is often said that only thing which is permanent in this world is change. One like it or one don't like, change will take place. If we are prepared, we can take them in our stride and move on and if we are not prepared then change will get over us and we will be doomed. So the best way to tackle the change is to keep ourselves informed and updated. An updated person will be more aware about the world dynamics and can weather the storm in a much sober and calm way.

OHSAS 18001:2007 devotes substantial portion of its written standards on change. When an organization gets certification under OHSAS 18001 standards, it is deemed that the particular organization has an Occupational Health and safety Management system in place.

Any change will require a reassessment of operations and activities which are associated with occupational hazards. Controls are required to be reassessed so that OHS risks arising out of change can be addressed.

These New Requirements of 4.3.1 in OHSAS 18001:2007 covers the Four Important Concepts.

• Identification of Hazard(s) associated with "Change".
• Assessment of Risks Associated with "Change"
• Consideration of the OH&S Hazards and Risks Prior to the Introduction of "Change".
• Implementation of the Controls needed to address the hazards and Risks associated with the "Change".

Ineffective management of change is a leading cause of accidents in workplace. To quote US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB):

In Industry, as elsewhere, Change Often Brings Progress.

But it can also increase Risks that, if not properly managed, Create Conditions that may lead to Injuries, Property Damage or even Death. Ineffective Management of change is one of the Major Contributing Factors in many of the Incident Investigations conducted by CSB.