Kelvin TOP-SET recently achieved ISO 45001: 2018, migrating from BS OHSAS 18001: 2007.
Kelvin TOP-SET also holds the ISO 9001: 2015 quality management regarding the delivery of its products and services.
ISO 45001 is structured around greater engagement with staff and workers, and a proactive approach to the identification of risks and how to mitigate them. The aim of course to prevent any incidents from occurring.
As part of the implementation of ISO 45001, Kelvin TOP-SET has placed more emphasis on the identification and minimising of risks to its tutors and investigators, who usually travel alone and sometimes to potentially dangerous locations that can pose health and safety concerns. Risks to tutors and investigators can include, for example, air and road travel concerns, potential sickness or injury, potential crime, even simple logistical issues once at a location can prove stressful and disruptive. Lone working and travelling are the greatest risks for people working for Kelvin TOP-SET. However, now that Kelvin TOP-SET regularly runs courses at its own headquarters, the risks to the health and safety of visitors and office staff also have to be fully thought through and managed.
Kelvin TOP-SET is working on building a line of communication between tutors and investigators on one hand, and the company managers on the other, so that ideas and concerns can be shared between the office-based managers, and those teaching and investigating in all of the different locations in which the company operates throughout. It’s important that the tutors and investigators themselves can feed into the health and safety management system.
Other initiatives brought about by the standard include: using management of change principles, using hierarchy of control principles, making emergency plans, staying up to date with legal changes, identifying opportunities for improvement, setting objectives, and making sure that staff have the appropriate health and safety knowledge and training for their role.
Of course, the system has been immediately challenged by coronavirus, which has overwhelmed all companies of late, but the work done to achieve ISO 45001 helped Kelvin TOP-SET to put measures in place quickly to protect office staff and visitors ahead of the lockdown, and helped the company to communicate quickly and appropriately with tutors to ensure they took the correct measures to protect themselves and others while travelling and teaching. Of course, the situation quickly escalated to a point where no travel and teaching were possible.
No doubt our clients and ourselves will be putting in place measures to protect staff and workers as the lockdown eases and people get back to working and travelling, and putting in place measures to make life and work safer sand mitigate risks should a similar or related problem occur in the future.