ABSTRACT
It is commonly recognized that the first national standard regarding the occupational safety and health management systems (OSH-MS) was the voluntary British standard BS 8800 (British Standard Institution [BSI], 1996). This standard was developed following the popularity of a systematic and standardized approach to the management systems growing worldwide. Initially, this approach applied to the quality management systems (ISO 9000), and subsequently the environmental management systems (ISO 14000). BS 8800 standard contains guidelines concerning design and implementation of OSH-MS in the way allowing for integration of OSH-MS with the general enterprise management system. The OSH-MS proposed in this standard is based on the continual improvement cycle PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), also known as Deming’s cycle. This model is compliant with the management system model applied in the ISO 14001 standard (International Organization for Standardization [ISO], 1996), as well as with the model adopted in 2000 within the ISO 9001 standard regarding quality management (ISO, 2000).
