['Safety and Health Programs and Training', 'Risk Assessment and Management']
['Risk Assessment and Management', 'Safety Committees']
12/13/2024
Copyright 2024 J. J. Keller & Associate, Inc. For re-use options please contact copyright@jjkeller.com or call 800-558-5011.
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Most companies realize that if they don’t put out a quality product, they won’t be in business long. That’s why for years many organizations have turned to the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) 9000 series of standards to implement their quality management systems.
As of March 12, 2018, those businesses can align their quality, and other management systems, with a worker safety and health management system, thanks to the newly-published, first-ever international standard for occupational safety and health management systems: ISO 45001.
Scope
ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety management systems–Requirements with guidance for use is a new standard for the implementation and maintenance of occupational safety and health management systems. The standard is a product of nearly five years of work from delegates representing over 60 countries, including the U.S. The new standard guides companies in taking a systematic and proactive approach to worker safety, giving safety an equal “seat at the table,” alongside other management systems, such as environmental, quality, IT and data security, and product safety, all of which have had international standards for a while. It shares a common structure, and many of the same definitions, as other ISO standards.
The standard, like other management systems standards, reduces risk and increases performance. In the case of ISO 45001, the risk is to worker safety and health. By using sophisticated and forward-thinking, proactive measures, the standard provides a framework for companies to systematically improve safety and their business processes at the same time. The standard requires companies to use concepts and techniques such as the hierarchy of controls, risk assessment, and root-cause analysis, along with significant input and participation from workers. While these techniques clearly help reduce injuries and illnesses, they also improve the business performance.
The standard has other benefits as well, some obvious, such as reduction of injuries, some not so obvious, such as impact on investors. Various investment entities are looking at sustainable companies. This will likely drive many employers to ISO 45001 usage, as it is expected to be adopted heavily across the globe. Investors will likely feel more confident in an ISO 45001-certified company because they’ve shown they are actually identifying and managing the risks.
From a day-to-day safety standpoint, ISO 45001 enables companies to improve performance by:
- Creating and implementing a safety and health policy, as well as objectives that align with the business strategies.
- Assessing processes for risk.
- Using a hierarchy of controls for hazards.
- Increasing awareness of the occupational health and safety risks the business faces.
- Actively involving workers in the system.
- Continually improving the company’s performance with regard to occupational safety and health.
CERTIFICATION
To achieve the maximum benefits from ISO 45001 (and to claim official certification), a company must go through a third-party audit and approval process from an accredited registrar. This is very similar to ISO 14001 (a popular environmental management systems standard). Completing full certification is certainly no easy task. If a company already has an ISO management system in place, however, the transition will be less complicated.
For companies that want to implement a management system, but are not interested in taking the certification route, the ISO 45001 standard can be used as a best practice guidance. In other words, a company can purchase the standard and self-implement to whatever degree is appropriate, understanding that internal impacts (such as fewer injuries and better performance) may be seen, but external benefits (such as recognition, competitive edge, and the ability to do business in certain industries or overseas) will not be gained without certification.
Where to begin?
The first step is to get a copy of the ISO 45001 standard, which can be purchased from various standards organizations. The logical next step is to conduct a gap analysis to determine where the current system is and where the organization needs to go to achieve conformance to the requirements of ISO 45001. Many companies will find it helpful to have a third-party expert in ISO certification assist with the analysis.
Regulatory citations
- ISO 45001 is international standard that specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system. Thought it provides a framework for organizations to manage risks and improve, there are not specific citations for ISO.
- 29 USC 654 — General duty clause of the OSH Act
Key definitions
- Hierarchy of controls: A method of analyzing and ranking control measures to ensure worker safety. This can be achieved (from safest to least-safe) elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, work procedures, and personal protective equipment.
- ISO: International Organization for Standardization; a nongovernmental group of members that collaborate to promote and provide guidelines to for consistent application of universally recognized standards.
- Occupational safety and health management systems: A framework ensuring an organization is ensuring the health and safety of employees by continually improving hazard prevention and risk control.
- Risk assessment: A process of reviewing and evaluating potential risks of activities or processes to determine the potential likelihood, severity, and consequences of certain events.
- Root cause analysis: A systematic approach to identifying the underlying causes of an incident or issue so implementations can be made to prevent recurrence.
- Standard: An established set of guidelines, procedures, or requirements intending to ensure safety and consistency in a particular area or field.
Summary of requirements
- Determine readiness to become ISO-certified for having a safety management system in place.
- Show a collective commitment to safety by the entire organization.
- Perform a risk assessment to identify hazards and determine program strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
- Evaluate legal and regulatory requirements and identify who is responsible for ensuring compliance.
- Develop a written plan for achieving workplace health and safety management program objectives.
- Engage employees in developing and ensuring occupational health and safety objectives.
- Ensure safety is fully integrated into daily operations and behaviors.
- Support employees at all levels of the organization to ensure they are competent to handle their roles in the safety management system.
- Implement documentation procedures for controlling policy versions, retention procedures, and access control.
- Train workers in the requirements and benefits of ISO certification.
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Copyright 2024 J. J. Keller & Associate, Inc. For re-use options please contact copyright@jjkeller.com or call 800-558-5011.