Occupational risk prevention and control requires the implementation of a health and safety management
system that allows organisations to carry out safety practices in a way that is structured, coordinated,
and integrated into their whole set of activities and decisions. Aware of this need, organisations
have begun to demand a management model that has a demonstrable implementation, and consequently
the international standard OHSAS 18001, which offers the possibility of certification, is gaining
increasing acceptance. The current work examines the reasons why these firms implement OHSAS 18001,
identifies the obstacles they have to overcome to obtain certification, and analyses their perceptions and
attitudes about the audit process, using a sample of 131 OHSAS 18001 certified organisations. The results
provide interesting information on certified firms’ opinions about the process of implementation and
certification of their OHSAS 18001 management systems. This information should be very useful to
organisations wishing to implement the standard and to auditors wishing to improve the quality of their
services to their client firms.