A Comparative Review of the International Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems for Global Standardization
This article is concerned with various aspects of establishing the global standard for occupational safety and health management system (OHSMS). The notion, main features, and brief history of the OHSMS are presented. The OHSAS 18000, its assets and liabilities, are reviewed as a prototype of the global standard. It is also addressed the possibility of combining ISO 9000(quality management system), 14000(environmental management system) and the OHSMS into the integrated management system (IMS) as a whole. The concepts of internal and external customers are presented to explain why the environment, safety and health should be incorporated into the notion of total quality 'Participation of the members' and 'standardization of the 4Ms (Man, Machine, Materials and Method)'are emphasized as the major enablers of the IMS. Finally, the industrial, academic and governmental roles are discussed for developing the IMS and setting it down into the Korean industries.