Occupational risk management under the OHSAS 18001 standard: analysis of perceptions and attitudes of certified firms

Occupational risk prevention and control requires the implementation of a health and safety management system that allows organisations to carry out safety practices in a way that is structured, coordinated, and integrated into their whole set of activities and decisions. Aware of this need, organisations have begun to demand a management model that has a demonstrable implementation, and consequently the international standard OHSAS 18001, which offers the possibility of certification, is gaining increasing acceptance. The current work examines the reasons why these firms implement OHSAS 18001, identifies the obstacles they have to overcome to obtain certification, and analyses their perceptions and attitudes about the audit process, using a sample of 131 OHSAS 18001 certified organisations. The results provide interesting information on certified firms’ opinions about the process of implementation and certification of their OHSAS 18001 management systems. This information should be very useful to organisations wishing to implement the standard and to auditors wishing to improve the quality of their services to their client firms.