What is ISO 45001?
ISO 45001 is the international standard that focuses on occupational health and safety management. This standard has replaced the older OHSAS 18001 standard to become the number one certificate that is used across the globe.
Acquiring the ISO 45001 certificate allows you to demonstrate that your organisation operates a best-practice Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS). Implementing an OHSMS reduces the likelihood of accidents and breaches of legislation and improves your organisation’s overall performance.
This standard has surpassed many existing health and safety standards because it was developed by amalgamating expert advice from the leaders of various occupational health and safety committees. It has also considered the recommendations from its predecessor, like the OHSAS 18001 and the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Moreover, business owners love this standard because the guidelines are effective, simple and practical. The resultant framework built because of these guidelines is efficient, robust and sustainable, guiding organisations of every size, sector and industry. The flexible nature of ISO 45001 makes it the most valuable health and safety standard.
Benefits of ISO 45001
You gain certification when you implement the recommendations of ISO 45001 and undergo an external audit. Although the benefits of ISO 45001 certification are numerous, here are some examples of the expected benefits:
• Establishing controls to ensure legal compliance: The standard helps you recognise the applicable laws that are prevalent in your industry, adding to establishing operational controls by taking into account various risks and opportunities. As a result, you achieve legal, statutory and federal compliance.
• Increasing health and safety awareness: The OHSMS helps organisations enhance their employee awareness about occupational health and safety risks and practices. This is because the standard asks business owners to conduct training to increase their awareness so that workers take an active role in all health and safety matters.
• Enhancing your reputation: As the standard is internationally recognised, achieving the certification passes the recognition to you. Your competitors, peers, clients and relevant stakeholders will understand that you have achieved an international benchmark, helping you get noticed by newer customers and those who are vigilant about their social responsibilities.
• Reducing absenteeism: One of the common causes of absenteeism is a continued strain in the workplace and workplace injuries. As your OHSMS will increase the health of your workplace, your employees will enjoy excellent working conditions, drastically reducing absenteeism. Additionally, by better managing occupational health and safety risks in the workplace, you are protecting your employees and reducing turnover rates and absenteeism.
• Reducing insurance premiums: Insurance companies recognise the efficiency of the ISO 45001 certified OHSMS and will reduce your premium.
• Improving management of health and safety compliance issues: The standard focuses on emergency preparedness and helps improve your ability to respond to regulatory compliance issues. As a result, the overall cost of incidents and downtime reduces.
• Better management of health and safety risks: The standard will help you highlight the hazards in your organisation and mitigate them by putting controls in place to minimise the effects.
Requirements of ISO 45001
The ISO 45001 standard utilises a structure of 10 clauses, and to achieve certification, you will need to consider the following requirements:
• Context of the organisation- You will need to define the internal and external factors that affect your business for your OHSMS to be relevant and practical. You will also need to highlight the parties affected by these issues and elaborate on how they will be impacted, including the visitors and the sub-contractors that regularly engage with your organisation.
• Leadership- To gain certification, you must clearly communicate roles and responsibilities. To demonstrate a leadership commitment, you must assume responsibility for the OHSMS. Additionally, you need to ensure that your staff has the appropriate tools and resources to run the management system successfully.
• Planning – This requirement highlights your organisation’s need to adapt and react to changes by evaluating all risks your OHSMS will likely encounter. You must demonstrate how you will communicate the action plan to your key personnel and maintain the relevant documentation.
• Support- This requirement urges you to assess the efficiency of the tools and resources needed to implement, run and maintain your OHSMS effectively. Examples of such tools can include training programmes, personal protective equipment or communication channels.
• Operation- This requirement urges you to assess your existing procedures to be aware of all obligations. As you identify all risks, opportunities and emergencies, you need to plan how to identify and appropriately respond to them.
• Performance evaluation- This requirement asks you to monitor and evaluate your occupational health and safety performance by creating specific criteria for measurement. This criterion can be utilised as evidence to show how your OHSMS is improving.
• Continuous improvement- This is a critical standard requirement and asks you to set your eyes on the future. You must constantly evaluate your OHSMS so that its performance is continually improving.
Is ISO 45001 certification proper for me?
ISO 45001 is suitable for you if your organisation needs to demonstrate its commitment to managing the safety of your workers and interested parties. If your organisation has another ISO standard, such as ISO 9001, ISO 45001 can be easily integrated.
Organisations need to have a clear management structure with defined authority, objectives for improvement and a structured approach to risk assessment to implement ISO 45001.
