Occupational health and safety management systems in the Canadian pulp andpaper industry: Methods of auditing

The Canadian Pulp, and Paper Association has developed eight "Guiding Princ iples for Management of Occupational Health and Safety" (OH&S) for its memb er companies. As part of a study to assess member companies' OH&S activitie s, an on-site audit was performed for II sites. The audit assessed five key components of a management system for a number of OH&S activities. Managem ent-system components more likely to be in place included system ownership and goals and procedures, whereas measures of performance, a review of meas ures, and corrective action were less likely to be present. Environmental s urveillance and injury reduction were most actively monitored, as indicated by the number of measures of performance relating to these activities. The auditing process demonstrated leadership and communicated the OH&S priorit ies of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association to the sites.