Development and evaluation of an ISO 9000-harmonized occupational health and safety management system

Corporate ISO 9000 registration is gaining international acceptance as the hallmark of quality system achievement. The International Organization for Standardization is currently considering development of an ISO harmonized occupational health and safety management systems standard. The purpose of this dissertation was to (1) identify and evaluate the critical issues associated with the development of an ISO occupational health standard, and (2) develop and evaluate a theoretical ISO 9000-harmonized management system. The investigators conducted literature reviews, interviewed industrial, governmental, and non-governmental occupational health professionals, conducted occupational health and safety site audits in collaboration with the US Department of Labor Office of Cooperative Programs, and chaired a national occupational health management systems task force. A modified Delphi process was employed to develop the ISO 9000-harmonized health and safety management system. This system was qualitatively and quantitatively compared against an existing health and safety assessment instrument used in industry. The research revealed numerous advantages and disadvantages of the ISO management systems approach to health and safety. The major advantages included maximizing the efficiency of governmental health and safety compliance personnel, increased emphasis on employee driven health and safety programs, and enhanced efforts for the preventive aspects of workplace health and safety. Major disadvantages were the single vote of the American National Standards Institute at international proceedings, ISO 9000 program development costs, registrar performance and ethics issues, and lack of validated performance measures. The qualitative and quantitative comparison of the ISO 9000 health and safety management system with an existing industrial assessment instrument showed that the scope and content of the two were similar with some subtle but potentially important differences. These differences included root cause identification, prioritization of health and safety related activities, and emphasis on specification standards. The investigators recommend future research be conducted on the identification of prevention oriented health and safety performance measures, ISO 9000 health and safety assessment instrument validity and reliability, and mortality/morbidity outcomes associated with use of the ISO management systems model.