The Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) is a modern safety production management model that emerged internationally in the late 1980s. It, along with the management systems specified in standards such as ISO9001 and ISO14001, is known as the epoch-making management method for post industry. The GB/T28001-2001 (OHSAS18001:1999) standard is currently the only OHSMS standard that can be used for third-party certification. This standard provides a structured operating mechanism for various organizations to help improve safety production management, promote occupational health and safety, and continuously improve.
With the continuous progress of industrial technology, the safety and health issues of employees are becoming increasingly prominent, and global safety production accidents continue to grow. According to estimates from the International Labour Organization, there are approximately 270 million occupational accidents worldwide each year, with 2 million people dying from occupational accidents and work-related diseases, and 160 million people suffering from occupational diseases, posing a serious threat to the safety and health of workers. In the late 1990s, some developed countries drew on the successful experience of ISO9000 certification to carry out activities to implement occupational health and safety management systems to ensure the health and safety of employees. In 1996, the UK issued the international standard BS8800 'Guidelines for Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems'. In the future, some organizations in the United States, Australia, Japan, and Norway developed guidance documents on occupational health and safety management systems. In 1999, 13 organizations including the British Standards Institute (BSI) and Det Norske Veritas (DNV) proposed the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) standards, namely OHSAS18001 'Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems - Specifications' OHSAS18002 'Occupational Health and Safety Management System - OHSAS18001 Implementation Guidelines'.
Relevant situation in China
Since the reform and opening up, China's national economy has maintained rapid growth, but as one of the important indicators of social development, the occupational health and safety situation has far lagged behind the pace of economic construction. In order to improve China's production safety level as soon as possible, safeguard the fundamental interests of the working people, promote trade development, and comply with the requirements of WTO rules, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China issued the national standard GB/T28001-2001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management System Specification) in 2001, which covers all technical content of OHSAS18001:1999, Applicable to any organization that establishes an occupational health and safety management system and seeks external certification of its occupational health and safety management system.
China Quality Certification Center (CQC), as the largest professional certification body in China, has been committed to the research and promotion of occupational health and safety management system standards for many years, and has achieved good results. Many well-known enterprises have obtained OHSMS certification at our center, such as Shanghai General Motors Co., Ltd., Beijing Capital International Airport Co., Ltd., Dell (China) Co., Ltd Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Pharmaceutical General Factory and so on. The center has 32 evaluation centers nationwide, with over 200 experienced OHSMS auditors. It has been recognized by 33 professional categories by the China National Certification Body Accreditation Committee, covering industries such as textiles, construction, machinery, civil aviation, computer industry, and property management. The certification enterprises are spread throughout the country.