The following material presents a brief Occupational Health and Safety
Management System Development Plan. It summarizes the general approach
you would take to develop your own unique Occupational Health and Safety
Management System (OHSMS). It uses a PDCA approach and is taken directly
from our OHSAS 18001 2007 Translated into Plain English. If you use our
plain English standard to develop your organization’s OHSMS, you will
automatically take the following steps:

1. Define the scope of your OHSMS.
2. Define your organization’s OHSMS policy.
3. Develop a methodology to identify hazards and assess risks.
4. Establish procedures to identify hazards and assess risks.
5. Identify your organization’s hazards and assess your risks.
6. Establish procedures to evaluate and select OH&S controls.
7. Evaluate the adequacy of your existing OH&S controls.
8. Select OH&S controls that reduce your OH&S risks.
9. Document the results of your control selection process.
10. Identify relevant legal and nonlegal OH&S requirements.
11. Respect all relevant legal and nonlegal OH&S requirements.
12. Establish unique OH&S objectives for your organization.
13. Establish programs to achieve your OH&S objectives.
14. Appoint a member of top management to manage OH&S.
15. Ensure the competence of those who influence OH&S.
16. Identify your OH&S training and awareness needs.
17. Establish OH&S training and awareness procedures.
18. Implement OH&S training and awareness procedures.
19. Establish procedures to manage OH&S communications.
20. Establish procedures to manage OH&S participation.
21. Document your organization’s unique OHSMS.
22. Control your organization’s OH&S documents and records.
23. Implement controls to manage OH&S hazards and risks.
24. Establish an OH&S emergency management process.
25. Monitor and measure your organization’s OH&S performance.
26. Record the results of your OH&S monitoring and measuring.
27. Evaluate compliance with legal and nonlegal requirements.
28. Record the results of your OH&S compliance evaluations.
29. Establish procedures to investigate OH&S incidents.
30. Establish nonconformity management procedures.
31. Perform regular internal audits of your OHSMS.
32. Review your OHSMS at planned intervals.
33. Update and improve your OHSMS.

Of course, you may already have an existing OHSMS. If this is true, you don’t
need to follow a detailed OHSMS development plan. You would probably
find it easier and more efficient to use a gap analysis approach, instead.

A gap analysis would compare your existing OHSMS with the OHSAS
18001 requirements. Such a comparison would pinpoint the areas that
fall short of the standard (the gaps). By focusing on filling your unique
occupational health and safety gaps, you will soon comply with the
OHSAS 18001 standard.

If you already have an existing OHSMS , a gap analysis is more
targeted and efficient. It is more targeted and efficient because
it takes an incremental approach and ignores areas that already
comply with the standard.