ISO 45001: Overview guide

A solid health and safety

framework for a changing
world of work
Making the world of work safer and
healthier for all
Things change; that is a fact. Whilst external factors that are
often out of our control may impact our world of work, one
thing remains constant; you want your employees to be safe.

ISO 45001 certification can help you It combines the technical strength
achieve this by reducing workplace of existing OH&S standards with
related risks and providing a solid the high level structure of other
framework for the health, safety international standards like
and well being of your employees – ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001
irrespective of your organisation’s (Environment), which makes
size, sector or geographical location. ISO 45001 easier to integrate with other
business management systems.
ISO 45001 is the international standard
for occupational health and safety (OH&S)
management.

Five megatrends are driving significant change

in the world of safety:

1.
Artificial intelligence, robotics,
automation, data and monitoring are
playing a significant role in preventing
harm and reducing safety risks.

Analytics allows us to understand patterns

2. across vast amounts of data to help us
look ahead and predict accidents before
they happen.

While we've traditionally viewed risks

3. as physical, now we're seeing the rise of

'soft risks' such as stress, fatigue, mental
health and well-being significantly impact
safety.

How do we manage generational

challenges in the workplace and adapt to
4. the gig-economy?

Research is shedding new light on

well-established safety theories. We
5. need a fresh and informed perspective
on safety theories and how we manage
contemporary safety challenges.

45001 Overview Guide | 2

Benefits of ISO 45001 certification
A healthier and Compliance and
safer workforce a commitment ISO 45001
to excellence reinvigorates you to look at
ISO 45001 aims to reduce work-related
incidents, and focuses on creating a health ISO 45001 provides a clear framework
your efficiencies and ways
and safety culture, whereby employees to manage your regulatory and legal of working. As a forward-
are encouraged to take an active role in
their own OH&S . This – underpinned by
obligations. Implementing a robust
OH&S management system can help to
thinking organisation,
strong leadership with demonstrable deliver stakeholder confidence, thereby you’re looking to see how
commitment to OH&S – helps to create a
culture of safety, resulting in reduced staff
improving your brand reputation and you can improve, how can
providing a competitive advantage when
turnover, increased morale and improved bidding for contracts. you deliver excellence. The
staff retention rates – as well as making the process has enabled us
work environment both safer and healthier. Maximise
productivity
to review what we do and
Reduce how we do it and make sure
overall costs ISO 45001 helps your organisation we are doing it safely and
understand risk profiles through a
ISO 45001 easily integrates with all new systematic process to keep your workforce efficiently.’
and revised ISO management system healthy and safe, thereby reducing
standards, such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, absenteeism and staff turnover, leading Peter France
as it shares the same high level text and to increased productivity. CEO, ASCO
common structure.
Identify and
This means you can potentially save time mitigate risk
and reduce disruption by consolidating
both your internal audit process as well ISO 45001 requires organisations to
as the certification audit. In addition, establish and maintain processes to
compliance to ISO 45001 can often result identify and manage potential emergency
in lower insurance premiums as you are scenarios, such as response to incidents
able to demonstrate your commitment to and emergencies and how to prevent
health and through improvements in your and mitigate any associated risks and
safety performance. impact on the work environment.

45001 Overview Guide | 3

Annex SL: A common framework to align
and integrate your management systems
ISO 45001 provides a framework for Essentially, it defines how all future Annex SL states that:
managing OH&S risks and opportunities new and revised management system
to prevent work-related injuries standards will be structured. “An effective management system
and illness and to provide safe and is usually based on managing the
healthy workplaces. If your organisation uses any of these organisation’s processes using a Plan-Do-
standards, the following structure will Check-Act approach in order to achieve
ISO 45001 follows the same common high be familiar: the intended outcomes.”
level text and structure as all new and
revised ISO management system standards 1. Scope In addition to the Annex SL structure,
– referred to as “Annex SL”. 2. Normative references ISO 45001’s OH&S-specific requirements
3. Terms and definitions include:
There is also a greater emphasis on 4. Context of the organisation
worker participation and consultation 5. Leadership • Participation and consultation
and on a process approach to OH&S. 6. Planning of workers
7. Support
Many organisations use and are certified 8. Operation • Identification of applicable legislation
to multiple management system 9. Performance evaluation and verification of compliance
standards. This has led to organisations 10. Improvement
seeking to combine or integrate their • Identification, evaluation and control
management systems in an effective of OH&S hazards
and efficient manner.
• Control of outsourcing, procurement
and contractors

• Emergency preparedness and

response

45001 Overview Guide | 4

Applying the Plan-Do-Check-Act
(PDCA) cycle to ISO 45001

External and Context of the organisation Needs and expectations of workers

internal issues (4) and other interested parties
(4.1) (4.2)

Scope of the OH&S management system

(4.3/4.4)

Planning
(6)

Leadership
and worker Support (7)
Improvement
A participation Operation (8) D
(10)
(5)

Performance
evaluation
(9)

Intended outcomes of the OH&S

management system

45001 Overview Guide | 5

ISO 45001 key requirements
Context of the Where top management already plays an OH&S throughout
organisation active role in driving OH&S management the supply chain
forward, the changes will formalise what
ISO 45001 requires organisations to look is happening now. However, for those ISO 45001 requires organisations to
beyond the health and safety issues that organisations where top management consider the health and safety issues
directly impact them and to consider their has effectively devolved responsibility affecting the wider supply chain – both
impact on wider society. for OH&S management, the effect in terms of being an interested party
will be significantly greater. and more clearly in the clauses
Each organisation is unique, so context covering procurement.
is important. The intended purpose Auditors will seek evidence that
of an Occupational Health and Safety top management has participated The process of managing outsourcing,
Management System (OHSMS) is to enable in establishing, implementing and contractors and procurement
an organisation to enhance its OH&S maintaining the OH&S policy. arrangements has been made explicit,
performance applicable to the activities, which should lead to better risk
products and services it provides. The policy is how top management identification and greater efficiency
Therefore, an OHSMS should be designed communicates its intentions for managing for a wider group.
and implemented to meet the specific and improving their organisation’s OH&S
needs of the organisation, considering its performance and company culture. Improvement
activities, associated hazards, compliance
obligations, its interested parties, products Emphasis has also been placed on Organisations must actively seek out and
or services and the business environment ensuring the participation of workers in realise opportunities for improvement
in which it operates. It must be noted that areas such as determining the mechanisms that will facilitate the achievement of
these context considerations must not be for their consultation and participation; the intended outcomes of the OH&S
solely limited to OH&S factors. identifying hazards and assessing risks and management system. They must consider
opportunities and determining actions to the results from analysis and evaluation
For an OHSMS context includes business eliminate hazards and reduce OH&S risks. of its OH&S performance, internal
environment, internal factors, such as audits, evaluation of compliance and
organisational culture and capabilities, Risks and management review when taking actions
strategic direction, and external factors, opportunities to improve performance. Improvement
such as socioeconomic conditions under can arise from corrective action, continual
which it operates. Planning, found in section six of ISO 45001, improvement and innovation.
plays an integral role in addressing risks
To better understand your businesses and opportunities and focuses on how
context you may find techniques such as your organisation can prevent or reduce
‘PESTEL’ and ‘SWOT’ useful. undesired effects, including hazards
and legal requirements so that you can
Leadership still achieve your objectives. Don’t forget
and worker to look at the positives, the opportunities
participation for your organisation and how to
optimise them.
Senior management needs to be
able to demonstrate a clear commitment
to health and safety.

45001 Overview Guide | 6

Audit and training services
We offer a range of on-site and remote audit and training
services suitable for organisations of all sizes and from all
industries, designed to help you get the most from ISO 45001.
We work collaboratively with you to design the best audit and
training options for your business.

How we can help?

Training Certification and Audit

Many of our courses are delivered as • access to technical ISO 45001 certification from
eLearning or in a virtual classroom experts, with multiple LRQA demonstrates to your key
environment, structured to meet stakeholder participation stakeholders that you have a
your learning objectives at a pace now possible. robustly designed and implemented
that works for you - wherever you are management system for keeping
in the world. Alternatively, we can • Safe & sustainable your employees healthy and safe
customise a solution against your • Reduced risks for people and that it has been audited to the
organisation’s training needs. We also travelling to hazardous or hard highest standards.
deliver public courses. to reach locations.
• A smaller carbon footprint and Integrated Audit
• Introduction to ISO 45001 a more environmentally friendly
• Implementing ISO 45001 delivery method. Organisations with multiple
• ISO 45001 Internal Auditor management systems for example
• ISO 45001 Auditor/Lead Auditor • Excellence & expertise quality, environmental and
• Introduction to integrated • Audit outcomes and accredited information security management,
management systems certification through robust can benefit from coordinated audit
processes and technical expertise. and surveillance programmes,
Remote Audit • Secure, easy-to-use, online avoiding duplicated effort and
platforms to protect your reducing disruption.
Using secure remote technology information and your audit
we deliver the same high-quality integrity. Assurance Services
audit services that were previously
only available as on-site audit. Our Gap Analysis LRQA delivers certification, validation
ISO 45001 audit services will consist and verification audit services to all
of a blend of remote and on-site For organisations looking to evaluate the world’s leading standards and
audit activities providing you with their current OH&S management schemes covering environmental,
an unrivalled level of insight and system (OHSMS) against ISO 45001, sustainability, energy management,
expertise. you can work with an LRQA auditor business continuity, cyber security
to identify critical or high-risk areas and more.
• Fast & flexible of your OHSMS, alongside specific
• Audit dates can be agreed and vulnerabilities. Impartiality
delivered quickly, minimising
on-site disruption. This can either be delivered on-site We maintain our impartiality by
or remotely, and helps determine proactively managing conflicts of
the scope of your ISO 45001 interest across all LRQA businesses
management system, giving you the including those which may exist
flexibility to focus on areas critical to between consultancy and third-
your operations. party certification services.

45001 Overview Guide | 7

 YOUR FUTURE. OUR FOCUS.

About LRQA:
By bringing together unrivalled expertise in certification,
customised assurance, cybersecurity, inspection and training,
we’ve become a leading global assurance provider.

We’re proud of our heritage, but it’s who we are today that
really matters, because that’s what shapes how we partner with
our clients tomorrow. By combining strong values, decades of
experience in risk management and mitigation and a keen focus
on the future, we’re here to support our clients as they build safer,
more secure, more sustainable businesses.

From independent third-party auditing, certification and training;

to consultancy services; to real-time assurance technology; to
data-driven supply chain transformation, our innovative end-to-
end solutions help our clients negotiate a rapidly changing risk
landscape – making sure they’re shaping their own future, rather
than letting it shape them.

Get in touch
Visit www.lrqa.com/my for more information
03 9212 2300

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Platinum Park
No 10 Persiaran KLCC
50088, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

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