OHSAS 18001 in a UK county highways and transportation department

This paper considers the case for introducing a formal occupational health and safety management system, which meets the requirements of the UK occupational health and safety assessment specification, OHSAS 18001, into the highways and transportation department of a local authority. It describes the existing arrangements within Dorset Engineering Consultancy (DEC), Dorset County Council's in-house highways and transportation professional services provider, and how they were reviewed to identify the developments necessary to secure OHSAS 18001 registration. The existing health and safety procedures were extended and fully integrated with an established quality management system before training members of staff in the new approaches to be taken. Compliance auditing was used to ensure that the new procedures were being adopted. Challenges in meeting the requirements of OHSAS 18001 and how they were overcome are described. This is followed by an account of the assessment process that was necessary to achieve third-party registration. Finally, the benefits that have accrued from implementing OHSAS 18001 are considered before outlining future development plans.