ISO 45001:2018

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ISO 45001:2018

WHAT IS ISO 45001?

ISO 45001 is the world’s international standard for occupational health and safety, issued to protect employees and visitors from work-related accidents and diseases. ISO 45001 certification was developed to mitigate any factors that can cause employees and businesses irreparable harm. Its standards are the result of great effort by a committee of health and safety management experts who looked closely at a number of other approaches to system management — including ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. In addition, ISO 45001 was designed to take other existing occupational health and safety standards, such as OHSAS 18001, into account — as well as the ILO’s labor standards, conventions and safety guidelines.

Especially geared toward senior management, ISO 45001 has the ultimate goal of helping businesses provide a healthy and safe working environment for their employees and everyone else who visits the workplace. This goal can be achieved by controlling factors that could potentially lead to injury, illness and — in extreme situations — even death. As a result, ISO 45001 is concerned with mitigating any factors that are harmful or that pose a danger to workers’ physical and/or mental well-being.

Sadly, thousands of workers lose their lives each day to preventable instances of adverse workplace conditions. In fact, according to the ISO and International Labour Organization — or ILO — more than 2.7 million deaths occur globally due to occupational accidents. And in addition to that there are 374 million non-fatal injuries each year, resulting in 4 or more days absences from work.

According to many health and safety experts — including the professionals who worked on the ISO committee — ISO 45001 represents a landmark breakthrough. For the first time internationally, businesses of all sizes can now access a single framework that offers them a clear pathway to developing better and more robust occupational health and safety measures.

ISO 45001 has seen a 97.3% increase in worldwide certificates in 2020, showing the growth and importance of IAS accredited certification in recent times. Statistics straight from the most recent ISO Survey.

ISO 45001 is heavily informed by OHSAS 18001 — not a simple revision or brief update. Read on to see what organizations of all types and sizes need to do to maintain compliance and achieve ISO 45001 certification.

BENEFITS OF ISO 45001 (MIGRATING FROM OHAS 18001)

An ISO 45001 based OH&S management system will enable an organization to improve its OH&S

performance by:

  • developing and implementing an OH&S policy and OH&S objectives
  • establishing systematic processes which consider its “context” and which take into account its risks and opportunities, and its legal and other requirements
  • determining the hazards and OH&S risks associated with its activities; seeking to eliminate them, or putting in controls to minimize their potential effects
  • establishing operational controls to manage its OH&S risks and its legal and other requirements
  • increasing awareness of its OH&S risks
  • evaluating its OH&S performance and seeking to improve it, through taking appropriate actions
  • ensuring workers take an active role in OH&S matters
  • In combination these measures will ensure that an organization’s reputation as a safe place to work will be promoted, and can have more direct benefits, such as:
  • improving its ability to respond to regulatory compliance issues
  • reducing the overall costs of incidents
  • reducing downtime and the costs of disruption to operations
  • reducing the cost of insurance premiums
  • reducing absenteeism and employee turnover rates
  • recognition for having achieved an international benchmark (which may in turn influence customers who are concerned about their social responsibilities)

ISO 45001 CHANGES COMPARED TO OHSAS 18001:2007

  • Context of the organization (Clause 4.1): The organization shall determine internal and external issues that are relevant to its purpose and that affect its ability to achieve the intended outcome(s) of its OH & S management system.
  • Understanding the needs and expectations of workers and other interested parties (clause 4.2): interested parties are workers, suppliers, subcontractors, clients, regulatory authorities.
  • Risk and opportunities (Clauses: 6.1.1, 6.1.2.3, 6.1.4): companies are to determine, consider and, where necessary, take action to address any risks or opportunities that may impact (either positively or negatively) the ability of the management system to deliver its intended results, including enhanced health and safety at the workplace.
  • Leadership and management commitment (Clauses: 5.1) has stronger emphasis on top management to actively engage and take accountability for the effectiveness of the management system.
  • Planning: (clause 6)

COMPLIANT WITH ISO 45001:

  • Scope of the OH&S management system (clause 4.3)
  • OH&S policy (clause 5.2)
  • Responsibilities and authorities within OH&SMS (clause 5.3)
  • OH&S process for addressing risks and opportunities (clause 6.1.1)
  • Methodology and criteria for assessment of OH&S risks (clause 6.1.2.2)
  • OH&S objectives and plans for achieving them (clause 6.2.2)
  • Emergency preparedness and response process (clause 8.2)

MANDATORY RECORDS:

  • OH&S risks and opportunities and actions for addressing them (clause 6.1.1)
  • Legal and other requirements (clause 6.1.3)
  • Evidence of competence (clause 7.2)
  • Evidence of communications (clause 7.4.1)
  • Plans for responding to potential emergency situations (clause 8.2)
  • Results on monitoring, measurements, analysis and performance evaluation (clause 9.1.1)
  • Maintenance, calibration or verification of monitoring equipment (clause 9.1.1)
  • Compliance evaluation results (clause 9.1.2)
  • Internal audit program (clause 9.2.2)
  • Internal audit report (clause 9.2.2)
  • Results of management review (clause 9.3)
  • Nature of incidents or nonconformities and any subsequent action taken (clause 10.2)
  • Results of any action and corrective action, including their effectiveness (clause 10.2)
  • Evidence of the results of continual improvement (clause 10.3)

NON-MANDATORY DOCUMENTS

There are numerous non-mandatory documents that can be used for ISO 45001 implementation. However, these are the non-mandatory documents that are most commonly used:

  • Procedure for Determining Context of the Organization and Interested Parties (clause 4.1)
  • OH&S Manual (clause 4)
  • Procedure for Consultation and Participation of Workers (clause 5.4)
  • Procedure for Hazard Identification and Assessment (clause 6.1.2.1)
  • Procedure for Identification of Legal Requirements (clause 6.1.3)
  • Procedure for Communication (clause 7.4.1)
  • Procedure for Document and Record Control (clause 7.5)
  • Procedure for Operational Planning and Control (clause 8.1)
  • Procedure for Change Management (clause 8.1.3)
  • Procedure for Monitoring, Measuring and Analysis (clause 9.1.1)
  • Procedure for Compliance Evaluation (clause 9.1.2)
  • Procedure for Internal Audit (clause 9.2)
  • Procedure for Management Review (clause 9.3)
  • Procedure for Incident Investigation (clause 10.1)
  • Procedure for Management of Nonconformities and Corrective Actions (clause 10.1)
  • Procedure for Continual Improvement (clause 10.3)

 

 

FAQ

A lot of small businesses see the ISO 45001 standard as a bureaucratic hassle that they can do without. They assume that if they are a small company, then they are low risk and can demonstrate effective risk management without a formal and structured framework. The truth of the matter is that the purpose of ISO 45001 isn’t to complicate your flow with unnecessary documentation but to give you a clear and proactive approach that will make it simpler to identify hazards, assess risks, and ultimately make your organisation safer and better for your employees. By implementing standards such as ISO 45001, you are paving the way to fewer workplace injuries and illnesses.
An occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) encompasses more than just your health and safety program. It includes health and safety policies, systems, standards, and records, and involves incorporating your health and safety activities and program into your other business processes. Having an effective management system improves your ability to continuously identify hazards and control risks in your workplace.
The purpose of an OHS Management System (also known as an OHSMS) is to systematically reduce the possibility of accident, illness, injury or fatality in the workplace by ensuring that hazards in the workplace are eliminated or controlled in a systematic manner. RCPL have a legal responsibility to provide a safe workplace and systems of work. This also includes consulting with your workers and keeping them informed about health and safety matters. Top management is ultimately responsible for providing a safe place and systems of work. Developing a good OHS management system will provide a more effective way of protecting workers and others from workplace injury and illness.
ISO 45001 is important because it aims to prevent workplace accidents, illnesses and fatalities. The committee responsible for writing ISO 45001 identified gaps in OHSAS 18001 and aimed to address them in the new standard. ISO 45001 will also work to standardize occupational health and safety management across borders, which has been difficult with the multiple versions of OHSAS in place internationally.
ISO 45001 certification is a good idea for any business that needs to mitigate safety risks and demonstrate a verifiable dedication to preventing work-related illnesses, injuries and deaths. This includes both small and large businesses and businesses in a variety of industries. Some examples of industries that should consider ISO 45001 certification include automotive, construction and healthcare. You should also consider ISO 45001 certification if you currently hold OHSAS 18001 certification. At Realcare Certification Pvt. Ltd., we provide ISO certification for businesses in a wide range of industries and sectors.
To get ISO 45001 certification, your organization will need to implement the standard and complete the auditing and certification process with an accredited third-party certification body like Realcare Certification Pvt. Ltd. The initial certification process involves a two-stage audit, and maintaining certification requires yearly surveillance audits and recertification every three years.
The cost of ISO certification depends on a range of factors — audit duration, organization size, scope of risk, current level of compliance and more. To get an accurate idea of direct certification costs, request a quote from your third-party certification body. At Realcare Certification Pvt. Ltd., we offer competitive rates and never use hidden fees.
ISO 45001 is the replacement for OHSAS 18001, rather than a simple update. OHSAS stands for “Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series” rather than an International Standard. One of the main differences between the two relates to the elevated role of top management. Health and safety has to be incorporated into the broader management of your organisation such that senior management have to take a stronger leadership role. One of those responsibilities is to ensure that the views of all stakeholders is heard. But perhaps the most fundamental difference is the general shift in emphasis. Whereas OHSAS 18001 focused on risk, ISO 45001 also puts an emphasis on identifying opportunities. This is to help eliminate hazards that exist now and which may arise in the future. ISO 45001 has adopted what’s called the Annex SL High Level Structure, around which other standards like ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are also built. This common structure means you can create an Integrated Management System.
To gain an ISO 45001 certification it typically takes 6-12 months.
Your certificate will be valid as long as the management system fulfills the needs of the appropriate standard. The certification body will lead surveillance visits consisting partial audits of system, normally at 6 monthly intervals or annually. Every 3 years they will impart an audit of the entire system. On covering the issue raised by auditors it will help to continue the registration status.

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