A inovação num sistema de gestão da segurança e saúde do trabalho

: 0hsas 18001

Abstract

The society, through awareness of the importance of safety and health applied to life as a whole process has required considerable improvement from organizations such as Águas do Douro e Paiva, S.A. (AdDP) in those domains. The occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) based on OHSAS 18001 (2007) was implemented at AdDP, which obtained its certification on 2003. Increasing pressure on AdDP to maintain efficient processes requires constant adaptation of the OHSMS and search for high performance levels with low economic costs. Thus, this master thesis has as main objective to promote and foster the improvement of the existing OHSMS in AdDP and as specific objectives to make a reflection and critical analysis and to present proposals for improvement and development, whether by way of simplification and systematization of practices or by the introduction of management innovations based on the state of the art, concerning objectives, identification of hazards, risk assessment and definition of controls, documentation, control of documents and control of records, competence, training and awareness, evaluation of compliance and emergency preparedness and response. Regarding objectives, although the OHSMS of AdDP already has a robust performance evaluation system, it is clear that there are some difficulties in defining new targets and performance indicators, so it is important to perspective new global goals and new evaluation ways with indicators like a "score" or a measure of the time of implementation of actions, which induce those responsible for facilities to improve performance without implying an increase in the complexity of processes and allocation of resources. The identification of hazards, risk assessment and definition of controls has led to the conclusion that the adoption of new methodologies for risk assessment is an asset for AdDP, as they allow provide knowledge on emergency and safety of employees involved in analysis, on the infrastructure, work equipment, procedures and practices. However, the adoption of new methodologies for risk assessment does not itself guarantee increased sensitivity or higher levels of acceptability, requiring new documentation or quality data and an experienced team. Regarding the documentation, control of documents and control of records is revealed as central to AdDP to adopt methodologies to filter information and implement tools that allow its distribution and constant updating in different locations. These methodologies and tools should always be directed to the user, ie, easy to access and use. Concerning the competence, training and awareness, the great difficulty in the OHSMS of AdDP relates to training, sometimes repetitive and demotivating. Thus, the adoption of electronic training platforms for training in the methods of "e-learning" and "b-learning" seem as new tools that allow unrestricted access to learners. In the evaluation of compliance, one of the difficulties in the OHSMS of AdDP is a complete compliance with legal, regulatory and other requirements that an organization subscribes. Another difficulty relates to the relevance of the evaluation of compliance routine over the years. The distribution of requirements into two categories, general and specific, transform this activity in a targeted, high-value task since restrict conformity assessments to individual situations. The creation of an interdepartmental audit or auto inspections plan for evaluation of compliance would be useful. As regards to emergency response the major difficulties in the OHSMS of AdDP that has multiple facilities, are the definition of planning, timing and definition of participating elements in accidents drills. First it is necessary to transform emergency plans in user-friendly documents. Secondly it is necessary to increase employee participation as observers of accidents drills performed internally or even accidents drills performed in similar companies or suppliers.

Date of Award	24 Mar 2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paula M. L. Castro (Supervisor) & Sandra Moura (Co-Supervisor)