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FEATURE | Let Your Management System Do the Work
Let Your OHS Management System
Do the Work
How the new Z10 adds
even better value
BY VIC TOY
n today’s economy, new pressures and priorities are causing
companies and organizations to
rethink business models and strategies. Demands for efficiency, performance and value require work
within a system as opposed to individual silos. The beauty of an Occupational Health and Safety
Management System (OHSMS) is
that it provides health and safety
management in an integrated, interconnected, organic way to
maintain focus on continual improvements.
I
Together with the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI), AIHA® released the ANSI/AIHA Z10 Occupational
Health and Safety Management System
standard in 2005. Since then, Z10 has
been AIHA’s top-selling publication, and
for good reason. The Z10 standard provides a systematic framework and the
tools required for continual improvements
in health and safety management. In
keeping with that mantra, the revised
version of Z10 will soon be released, with
even better tools and guidance. Current
Z10 users will find that the changes build
upon the original standard.
A Look Back
When deciding to adopt Z10, understanding its origin will help an organization fully appreciate the standard’s
value. In 1999, the AIHA Management
Committee received approval from ANSI
to develop a standard. The goal, then as
now, was to produce the foremost American OHSMS consensus standard. It
would leverage principles from national
and international quality, environmental
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The Synergist ■ February 2012
and safety management system standards as well as programs such as the
OSHA Safety and Health Program Management guidelines and Voluntary Protection Program.
One of the strengths of the initial Z10
work was the attention paid to the representation, distribution, balance and participation of the committee members
itself. This was critical to ensure the
voice of labor, industry, government, academia, professional societies and management system experts. Health and
safety consultants and new members
who had implemented Z10 were added to
the current roster to make the revised
standard even better and easier to implement. While striving for consensus
hasn’t always been easy, the committee’s
diversity has proven to be its strength,
with members looking after the interests
of other groups to ensure the best standard possible. In a management system,
that kind of collaboration produces re-
sults that improve health and safety.
Figure 1 shows how the OHSMS requirements described in Z10 can enhance the management of health and
safety programs (for example, hazard
identification and risk reduction). The
circle in the middle of the diagram illustrates the “plan-do-check-act” (PDCA)
concept for continual improvement.
What’s New in Z10
There is almost nothing to which you
can’t apply the management system approach. This includes revising a management system standard, even using the
PDCA template. Overall, the standard
portion of the Z10 revision is the about
the same length as the original version
and restructured in parts to enhance understanding. Management system jargon
is minimized and clarity is improved
through the addition of explanatory
notes. Where possible, the revision features more specific requirements without
Figure 1. The OHSMS Cycle.
Continual
Improvement
Improve
employee H&S
productivity
satisfaction
image
3.0 Policy Management
Leadership & Employee
Participation
Reduce
Plan
Act
7.0 Management
Review
Check
6.0 Evaluation
& Corrective
Action
hazards
risks
incidents
comp costs
lost time
4.0 Planning
5.0
Implementation
& Operation
Do
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Let Your Management System Do the Work | FEATURE
mandating practices that should be left to
the organization to fit its culture and
business systems. The revised standard
includes new appendixes on Risk Assessment, Management of Change, Procurement, Contractor Safety and Health, and
a comparison of management system
standards. Several other appendixes, such
as Encouraging Employee Participation
and Planning—Identification, Assessment
and Prioritization were extensively revised. Language was also added to provide the user with more avenues for
employee participation and linkages to
social responsibility and sustainability
initiatives. Table 1 includes a summary of
key changes proposed in the revision.
The Policy Statement and “Plan”
Implementing, operationalizing or improving any management system begins
with a policy or vision statement. Consistent with that approach, the Accredited
Standards Committee (ASC) for Z10
began revising the standard according to
its vision for “making Z10 the premier
OHSM standard in the U.S. for use by
businesses by increasing the use, status,
and value of Z10.” AIHA solicited feedback from stakeholders, including its
constituents and members of the first Z10
committee. Over 200 comments were collected, from which issues on the standard
were discussed, debated, prioritized and
selected for improvement. ASC Z10 focused on four principle objectives as a
result of this process, with most comments focusing on improving usability:
1. Enhance Z10’s usability
2. Increase alignment with other standards
3. Enhance Z10’s marketability
4. Achieve external recognition
Interestingly, the most hotly debated
and contentious section in the standard
was on Planning. In general, planning occurs in every part of a management system, whether it involves a new innovation
or the frequency and timing of an audit or
management review. The idea behind the
Planning step, however, is to ensure
progress toward significant improvements
through assessment and prioritization of
risks. The Planning step requires input
from all interested parties and development of implementation plans.
Some would say that planning in this
step should focus on macro-level improve-
ments. Most certainly, every organization
must decide, based on its resources and
implementation timeline, how many improvements to adopt as objectives. It is
not the intent of this part of the management system cycle to necessarily include
micro improvements—for example, a
change in a sampling form—that are operational in nature and can be made at any
time. Rather, the Planning step allows the
organization to think more strategically
about issues that can provide significant
health and safety improvements. An example of a system-level improvement is a
change in a manufacturing process where
near misses or actual injuries were traced
to a deficiency in equipment review, design and employee work practices. This
example highlights a requirement that
was added in Z10 to assure employee participation, linkage with other business
systems and alignment with the organization’s OHSMS.
Implementation and Operation
Each organization needs to keep track of
implementing the OHSMS. What is
planned should be implemented, and
what is operationalized should be managed. This is the area of traditional
health and safety program management.
However, with an OHSMS, the focus is
on how programs are interconnected to
meet overall objectives. Two new areas of
focus in this revision are the use of risk
assessments and management of change.
These two areas are closely aligned
and inseparable. Any change should be
assessed for risk, and risk assessments
should consider current and future
changes. In reality, this approach clarifies the need for, and gives credit for ensuring the use of, traditional industrial
hygiene and safety practices (such as
health hazard assessments, equipment
inspections and process reviews) before a
hazard is realized. A requirement and a
new appendix were added to Z10 to reinforce the concept that risk assessments
occur during normal operations as well
as in the Planning stage.
Checks and Balances
The last sections of Z10 cover “Evaluation and Corrective Action” and “Management Review.” These areas address the
question of system performance. Does it
deliver the value as designed, and does it
Nucor Corporation and ANSI Z10
BY TOM REEVES
“Going home safe to our families is the
most important thing we do every day
— when employees are your most important asset, actively caring for everyone’s safety becomes a focus with
absolute clarity. Z10 helps us center
on continuous improvement so we can
live our values,” said Dave Sumoski,
Vice President & General Manager,
Nucor Steel Marion, Inc. With capacity
that exceeds 26 million tons, Nucor
Corporation is the largest producer of
steel in the United States.
Nucor’s made a strong commitment to participation in voluntary programs and standards including OSHA
VPP and SHARP Worksites. Six facilities are registered to ANSI/AIHA
Z10:2005. Clearly, Z10 is focused on
hazard identification, risk assessment,
effective controls, and corrective/preventative actions. What sets it apart
from other management system standards is the emphasis on high levels
of employee participation. Utilizing
Z10 as a framework to support continual improvement, Nucor found synergies that support VPP and SHARP.
George Stephenson, Safety Coordinator, Nucor Steel Decatur, Inc. summed
it up best, “VPP and Z10 are tremendous team building exercises. Not
only do they directly affect safety performance, Z10 and VPP help us grow
as a team. It’s about taking care of our
customers and our most important
customers are our team members.”
Tom Reeves is safety coordinator at Nucor Corporation in Marion, Ohio. He can be reached at
[email protected] or (740) 223-4358.
meet management’s commitment to
workplace safety? Various metrics and
assessment tools are required to demonstrate employee safety performance. New
language was added to clarify inclusion
of assessments against legal requirements. A new requirement was also
added requiring the use of reviewers with
a level of independence from the audited
activity to help ensure and demonstrate
the quality of management system audits
and OHSMS performance.
The Current and Future Workplace
The value of workplace safety is undeniable. However, the one given in the future
February 2012 ■ The Synergist
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FEATURE | Let Your Management System Do the Work
of work is that it will be dynamic. Therefore, safety management in the workplace needs to keep pace. Methods for
managing health and safety programs
that are silo-centric or dependent on individuals rather than the organization
will eventually give way to systems
thinking. OSHA has been moving in this
direction with its development of a national standard for an Injury and Illness
Prevention Program (I2P2).
There has never been a better time to
consider implementing or improving
your organization’s OHSMS. Some organizations have already experienced
the value of Z10 (see the sidebar on page
21). Z10 is a great tool to help you and
your organization remain focused on
employee health and safety. Watch for
the latest release of Z10 in coming
months; or, for a preview of the draft
standard, please check the AIHA website
at www.aiha.org/insideaiha/standards/
Pages/Z10.aspx.
Vic Toy, MPH, CIH, CSP is Vice Chair of ASC Z10
and a Senior Advisor and Program Manager for Strategy and Design in the Integrated Health Services
group for the IBM Corporation, New York. He can be
reached at [email protected] or (720) 396-5848.
Table 1. Summary of Key Z10 Provisions and Changes for 2012
Key provisions
Key 2012 requirement changes
Enhanced guidance
SECTION: MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP AND EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION
Responsibilities of top management
OHS policy
Employee responsibility and participation
Policy availability (external)
Alignment with performance, financial and
recognition systems
Leadership communication
Integration with business systems
Reliance on system performance
Employee participation (enhanced appendix)
SECTION: PLANNING
Initial and ongoing reviews
Assessment and prioritization of OHSMS issues
Development of objectives and implementation
plans
Clarification of initial and ongoing reviews
Risk assessment and mechanisms for employee
involvement
Periodic review and update
System versus operational planning
Conducting an initial review
Risk assessment methodologies (new appendix)
Use of quantitative and qualitative objectives
SECTION: IMPLEMENTATION AND OPERATION
Implementation of operational elements
Use of the hierarchy of controls
Inclusion of processes for:
• design review
• management of change
• procurement of supplies and services
• contractors
• emergency response
Provision for education, training, awareness
and competence
Communication about the OHSMS
Documentation and control of records
Risk assessment process
Consultation with contractors
Timely training and competent trainers
Employee participation
Inclusion of hazard topics within operational elements
Risk assessment (new appendix)
Employee participation in management of change
Design review and management of change
Contractors and procurement checklists
(new appendix)
Competence assessment
SECTION: EVALUATION AND CORRECTIVE ACTION
Process to
• monitor, evaluate and communicate hazards,
risks and controls
• investigate and analyze work-related incidents
• conduct, document and communicate OHSMS
audits
• provide prompt corrective action for serious
injury and illness conditions
• corrective/preventive actions and closure
Assessment of legal and other requirements
Audits by competent persons with independence
Using incident investigations to understand rootcause failures
Explanation of audit and independence (enhanced
appendix)
Assessing residual risks in corrective/preventive
actions
SECTION: MANAGEMENT REVIEW
Annual management review for suitability, adequacy, and OHSMS effectiveness
Determination of future OHSMS direction
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The Synergist ■ February 2012
None
None