SGS United Kingdom Ltd ─ Oil, Gas and Chemicals Services Achieves OHSAS 18001 Certification

Wednesday, Mar 10, 2010

SGS United Kingdom Ltd’s Oil, Gas and Chemicals (OGC) Services business achieved BS OHSAS 18001:2007 certification.

“I am delighted to advise that our OGC activities in the UK have now achieved certification by an accredited body against this internationally recognised assessment specification for occupational health and safety management systems,” says Malcolm Cooper, OGC Business Manager. “This covers all of our OGC activities, providing services to both upstream and downstream customers, covering 32 sites across the UK. This includes laboratories, inspection, measurement and instrumentation, and manpower supply.”

SGS operates a number of businesses throughout the UK. The OGC business is high risk regarding health and safety and, therefore, this business was a priority for 18001 certification.

“Achieving OHSAS 18001 certification is the official recognition of our commitment to maintain our health and safety performance to benefit both our staff and our customers,” says Malcolm. “That is also why we embarked on obtaining certification to the OHSAS 18001 standard by an accredited body.”

Certification to OHSAS 18001 is a two-stage process. The first stage started in October 2009 and involved an on-site documentation review of the safety management system by the auditors. This was successful and led to the second stage, which involved further site visits by the auditors. This was completed by the end of December 2009.

“At the second stage, the auditors focus on operational compliance with the 18001 standard and the health and safety management system,” says Steve Bedlington, SGS Health & Safety Manager. “This involves checking that the system is effective and includes reviewing risk assessments, ensuring compliance with H&S legislation and effective communication at all levels, with the aim of continual improvement.”

ABS Quality Evaluations were chosen as the accredited certification company. David Holden, Regional Manager of ABS Quality Evaluations commented: “We are very proud to be associated with SGS United Kingdom Ltd and to verify compliance of their OHSAS 18001 safety management system. Within the scope of the certification, SGS OGC has a diverse range of activities in their offices located from Aberdeen in Scotland, to Hamble on the south coast of England. This required careful planning and consideration of audit teams to ensure that we could fully cover all processes and activities.”

Source: SGS