제 목 : Australia Releases New OH＆S Standard
일 자 : 1998년 01월
제공처 : Safety + Health(Global Update)
< Australia Releases New OH＆S Standard >
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Australia's top standards writing body, Standards Australia, released
a new guideline standard for occupational health and safety manage-
ment systems last September. The standard is intended for use as a
voluntary, internal management tool and will assist companies and orga-
nizations seeking to integrate health and safety within core operational
and business functions. Some 28 Australian and New Zealand orga-
nizations developed the standard, including government health de-
partments, the National Safety Council of Australia, employer
organizations, university OH＆S departments,workers compensation
authorities, and the Australian Federal government's National
Occupational Health and Safety Commission.
Like the International Quality Standards (ISO 9000 series) and
Environment Standards (ISO 14000 series), the new standard promotes
management commiment, organizational policy development,
planning, measurement, evaluation, review and improvement. Accord-
ing to Standards Australia, it also encourages "controls which do not
rely excessively on the behaviour [sic] of the people exposed to
hazards."
MarkCoIlins, acting branch head of the Prevention Strategies and Fa-
cilitation Branch of NOHSC, say she welcomes the release of the new
standard but warns that industry may misunderstand it. '"We must be
careful that we don't create confusion within industry about what is
mandated under OH＆S law and what workplaces do as voluntary
means of achieving compliance with regulations," he says.
Collins adds that the possibility of confusion intensifies following
recent federal government surveys of small business that show "a sig-
nificant level of confusion within small business created by what is
perceived as a plethora of OH＆S regulation."
Meanwhile, Australia prepares to negotiate the next and much
more politically complex step of developing an auditable specification
standard for OH＆S management systems.
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