Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems: The Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) Model

The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model is a fundamental framework for developing and implementing an effective Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS). This approach allows organizations to continuously improve their safety performance, encourages employee engagement, and can be applied consistently across a variety of management systems. On this episode of the IHSA Safety Podcast, Maren Gamble, Manager of Strategic Programs at IHSA, compares the planning phase of building an OHSMS to planning a boat ride to your favourite restaurant across the lake: in both cases, careful planning ensures that everyone involved stays safe and has fun. Building an OHSMS can certainly be complex -- the PDCA model can help firms focus on the basics and create a solid foundation, so that their plan can be applied universally across each of their jobsites. The PDCA is also a critical component of COR® and a requirement of participants in the WSIB’s Health and Safety Excellence program (HSEp).