John Nolan
July 5, 2017
Facilities Management is described as “the integration of processes within an organization to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities,” according to The Professional Body for Facilities Management. This sector has grown rapidly and is now worth billions of dollars to the U.S. and world economies. Given the combination of buildings, grounds, equipment, and staff management, it stands to reason that OHSAS 18001 is a vital business tool to ensure that employee, stakeholder, and client safety is maintained for such companies. The sector does, however, bring certain challenges, as I discovered recently when being asked to advise on a Facilities Management project.
It quickly became clear to me on meeting the client that the portfolio of a FM (Facilities Management) company can be very diverse, and risk can be present in many places. It came as no surprise then, that the CEO had identified OHSAS 18001 as the correct business tool to protect both his employees, his client base and, by extension, their property. So, what shape did the process take from there?
In the previous article, How detailed should your occupational health and safety policy be? we looked at the OH&S policy, which is a mandatory requirement of OHSAS 18001. After consultation with employees, a legal consultant, and a selection of stakeholders, an OH&S policy was constructed and employees were consulted further. The article How to perform management review in OHSAS 18001 gave details of how to perform the management review, and despite an annual management review not strictly being a mandatory requirement of OHSAS 18001, it was decided that a meeting to set objectives and frequencies for certain mandatory actions like risk assessments was preferable both for clarity, and to establish the correct culture. As we saw in a previous implementation in How to implement OHSAS 18001 in a car repair center, the implementation steps for the FM company were very similar, with particular attention paid to elements such as consultation, competence and awareness, and critically, legislation. But, there was one major element of the standard where the activities of the FM company differed from other sectors, and that was “risk.”
The article How to perform risk assessment in OHSAS 18001 offers guidance on how to perform risk assessment, and one of the main challenges in this sector was that the identification of risk needed collaboration from stakeholders, clients, and employees alike. Let us consider some of them:
During this OHSAS 18001 implementation in the Facilities Management sector, several things became obvious that could certainly assist other organizations in the same sector:
Despite the extra considerations outlined above, the OHSAS 18001 implementation proved to be a success and certification was gained. An engaged and educated workforce and supporting staff are now helping to meet OH&S objectives, and the clients – who are regularly consulted – are happy. Consider these extra factors, and you can also ensure that OHSAS 18001 is delivered for your FM organization, and within the budget and time parameters you set, with the benefits being passed on to all the organizations you serve.
Use our free OHSAS 18001 implementation diagram to manage your OHSAS 18001 implementation.