Kåre Hendriksen Master of Environmental Management Personal background: OHS research

1. OHS Certification as Tool and Strategy in Labour InspectionA project funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers Kåre Hendriksen Master of Environmental Management Personal background: OHS research OHS consultant Former lead assessor at DANAK – the national Danish accreditation body a.o. for OHS certification

2. Project focus • The interaction between legislation and OHS certification • The validity of OHS certificates • The project is manly based on dialogue with stakeholders Background • Experiences shows that OHS management systems and the certification process can contribute to increase OHS performance in proactive organizations • generally based on single or few voluntary companies • Since 2001 certified organizations in Denmark are by order exempt from initial inspection – caused by the expectation that they has a high OHS performance

3. Main challenges in OHS certification Increasing public skepticism and suspicion Lack of transparency in the certification process and in the basis for issuing a certificate (ISO 17021) Many cases of non compliance with the legislation and lack of consequences Does not ensure proactive performance and/or continuous improvements Often reduced audit time and/or lack of competences in the audit team – especially regarding ‘soft issues’ as psychological OHS

4. OHS certification regime • The OHSAS 18001 standard is defined by an exclusive self-appointed group that pay for their participation – which primarily includes certifying and accrediting agencies, the industry’s interest organizations, and to a less extent OHS professionals. • No explicit requirement for OHS performance besides complying with relevant national legislation – thereby incomparable across national frontiers. • Refers indirectly to the national OHS concept – but leaves it to organization management to choose which elements it should be evaluated in relation to. • Almost all requirements are cowered by the Nordic legislation

5. Denmark October 2009 355 certificates covering app. 2.200 sites

6. Project recommendations OHS management systems and certification is a recommendable tool for companies to improve their management focus on OHS It is not recommendable to exempt certified companies from initial inspection or random check There is a need for guidelines to OHSAS 18001 referring to the Nordic OHS context and regulation framework The guidelines should be developed in dialogue with all relevant stakeholders Thank you