Management systems certified under accreditation

The new workbook by the Accredia Observaory dedicated to health and safety on the workplace, written in partnership with Inail and Aicq (the Italian Quality Culture Association) confirms the higher efficacy of prevention in companies adopting management systems certified under accreditation. The amount of the reduction in injuries varies considerably according to the industrial sector. In the wood industry, for instance the decrease in accidents for certificated companies was only 7%, while the index showing the decrease in seriousness reaches 61%. The textile industry, on the other hand, shows a 10% reduction in the frequency index and a 30% reduction of the seriousness index. The workbook is a viable compass to find one’s way in a rapidly evolving scenario, where during the past three years the number of companies choosing to certify under accreditation their professional health and safety management system increased by one third. The reference norm so far was the OHSAS 18001 standard, issued in 1999 and revised in 2007, soon to be replaced by the new international certification, UNI ISO 45001, published on May 12th this year. Today almost 17,000 companies have a management system certified for the BS OHSAS 18001 norm, almost 32% more than three years ago.
A survey on a sample of 311 companies, certified according to the BS OHSAS 18001 norm, carried out by Inail, Accredia and Aicq, revealed that almost all companies (98.4%) following certification of its management system verified an improvement in safety performances, measured in terms of the number of accidents and work-related illnesses (74.6% of respondents) and of prevented accidents (70.1%), hours of training (63.3%) and non-conformities managed (55,6%).