Diffusion of integrated Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems

Abstract

The number of companies operating simultaneously with several normative, standardized and certifiable management systems (MSs) steadily increases over the years. A great deal of these companies implements an occupational health and safety MS (OHSMS) in order to address the safety concerns from a specific and relevant stakeholder- the employee. This subsystem seldom operates as the single MS and often coexists with other subsystems, namely, the quality MS (QMS) and/or the environmental MS (EMS). This paper intends to “snapshot” the diffusion of the integrated OHSMSs in Portugal dissecting the following features: regional geographic location, evolution throughout the years, more involved activity sectors, more often found integrated management systems (IMSs) typologies and the most relevant and active certification bodies. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that a comprehensive analysis of the integrated OHSMSs diffusion is developed in Portugal.