The scope briefly explains the purpose of the International Standard, how it is written, and how it should be interpreted. The normative references for this standard are empty.

The terms and definitions section in ISO 45001 briefly explains terms that are frequently used within the standard. This includes terms like ‘conformity’, ‘top management’, and even ‘occupational health and safety’ itself. Terms and definitions will be useful for those unfamiliar with ISO standards and the language frequently employed.

This section is present in many ISO standards, and ISO 45001 is no exception. Here, the focus is on understanding the nature of your company:

• What do we do?
• How are we affected be internal and external factors?
• Who are our interested parties?

Your understanding of company context will facilitate the effective planning, implementation, and maintenance of your health and safety management system. Why? Because organizational context feeds into the design of your processes, the allocation of responsibilities and authorities for those processes, and monitoring and measurement techniques, just to name a few areas.

In simple terms, without fully understanding your organizational context, your quality management system will be unfit for your company. Health and safety risks will not be properly addressed meaning some risks may be over-inflated and some may be under-inflated, making the mitigation of health and safety issues less effective.

There are a range of methods employed by companies to understand the organizational context, and there is no right or wrong method so long as the company context is sufficiently understood. A PESTLE analysis is a commonly employed technique. You can read more about PESTLE analysis by clicking here.

Like many other ISO standards, it is made clear that top management have their part to play. Without the commitment of top management, there will be a lack of leadership and accountability for the establishment, implementation and maintenance of the health and safety management system. It may also lead to improper or lack of resources allocated to the management system which could lead to major nonconformities.

It is key that those responsible for the management system are clearly identified. This can be reflected by an organizational chart.

From this, a clear health and safety policy can be established. This will disclose things like:

• How health and safety objectives will be set.
• Clearly defined commitments to fulfil legal requirements, eliminate hazards, reduce health and safety risks, and continual improvement of the management system.
• Information about the health and safety management system which links closely to the organizational context (yep, section 4!).

Once the responsibilities of workers are established at both the higher and lower levels of the organizational hierarchy, processes for consultation and participation of workers should be designed to evaluate the management system’s performance. This may include things like training requirements and how these will be met.

To help plan the details of the health and safety management system it is important to address risks and opportunities already identified in section 4.

Hazard identification is key, and this process must continue beyond the planning stage of the management system to when the management system is in place. The standard specifies that hazards arising from machinery, to humans, to products must all be identified, just to name a few.

How you will fulfill applicable legal requirements related to health and safety will also be planned. All applicable legislation will be understood which paves the way for methods to comply with each piece of legislation. A legal register is a popular document for achieving this.

Once hazards and legal requirements have been fully understood, health and safety objectives – and the means of achieving them – can be clearly set out.

What is meant by ‘support?’ Simply, it is everything that is required to support the health and safety management system:

• Resources needed (such as machinery, software or raw materials).
• The knowledge and skills required by workers.
• The awareness amongst workers of the management system itself.
• How internal and external communication relevant to the management system will be achieved.
• How documented information related to the health and safety management system, such as an incidents log, will be controlled.

The ‘operation’ section is relevant to the day-to-day operation of the health and safety management system.

For instance:

• How are health and safety hazards and risks eliminated during day-to-day operation.
• How will wider changes to the company influence the management system.
• The procurement of products and services necessary to the proper running of the health and safety management system.
• If any functions and processes related to health and safety are outsourced, these partners must be controlled.

It is a good idea to conduct health and safety walkarounds, carrying out inspections, on a routine basis to make sure that the management system is being properly followed. Try to document this process so that the fact you are carrying out inspections is clear to an auditor.

No matter how robust your planning of the management system was prior to the implementation of your health and safety policy, there will always be areas of improvement as the company and subsequent circumstances evolve over time.

Here, you evaluate how compliant your health and safety management system has been with the requirements of ISO 45001 and actions to address any non-conformities. This will need to involve everyone responsible for the management system… that includes you, top management!

Internal audits are a valuable way to measure your compliance with the management system and standard requirements. This can be outsourced to health and safety professionals (like us) or you can get internal staff trained so they can perform the internal audits themselves.

And once the evaluation is completed in section 9, corrective action to address any nonconformities is established and put into action. Again, continual improvement is the idea here, getting small details correct over a lengthy period of time after multiple management reviews.

ISO 45001 is the international standard for health and safety management systems from the international organization for standardization, ISO. It can be applied to any organization no matter the type, size or products and services it provides.

Being an ISO 45001 certified organization, you are actively advertising your commitment to health and safety. This shows employees, existing or potential, that you care for their health and safety, meaning you can attract more talent and improve the morale and productivity of existing workers. There are countless more benefits (see below).

By achieving Certification to the ISO 45001:2018 Standard your company will be actively demonstrating your ability to identify risks and reduce them to the best of your ability. With the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter Act it is now essential that all companies do their utmost to ensure that no injury or fatality is caused as a result of negligence.

Management commitment to the system will also ensure that company standards are maintained along with compliance to ISO 45001:2018 and legal requirements.

More prospects realised where opening doors is restricted to ISO 45001 suppliers – a common scenario.

Efficient Process Management

Reduction in risk

Improved staff morale

More effective management as less time is wasted on dealing with incidents.

Immediate SSiP compliance can be achieved through gaining certification to ISO 45001:2018.

While ISO 45001 can be applied to virtually any organization looking to better manage and advertise their commitment to health and safety, the following companies are more likely to require ISO 45001 to secure clients:

• Construction industry companies.
• Manufacturing industry companies.
• Companies with a high degree of health and safety risk.