ISO 45001 Certification – Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems

An occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) is fundamental to an organization's risk management strategy. ISO 45001 is the globally recognized OHSMS standard. It specifies the requirements for an OHSMS and provides guidance on its use.

The standard applies to any organization that wishes to establish, implement and maintain an OHSMS to improve occupational health and safety, eliminate hazards and minimize risks, including system deficiencies.

ISO 45001 enables an organization, through its OHSMS, to integrate other health and safety aspects, such as worker wellness and wellbeing. Organizations can also take advantage of occupational health and safety opportunities and address related management system nonconformities.

What are the benefits of ISO 45001 certification?

ISO 45001 certification follows successful completion of an audit and enables you to:

Demonstrate your commitment to occupational health and safety
Protect your workforce and others under your control
Achieve occupational health and safety objectives and meet stakeholder expectations
Eliminate hazards and reduce risks, including system deficiencies
Take advantage of occupational health and safety opportunities
Comply with legal and other requirements
Continually improve occupational health and safety performance
Address OHSMS management system nonconformities
Support several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (see below)

The standard can also align with other management systems standards, such as ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 14001 (environmental management).

Aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

ISO 45001 contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 16.

How can SGS help?

As the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company, with decades of occupational health and safety experience, we can help you along the path to certification with an ISO 45001 audit. Your audit can include a gap assessment and benchmarking. We will determine your level of competence and support you to achieve ongoing improvement.

We also offer ISO 45001 training to help your staff gain the knowledge and skills needed to support your organization’s ISO 45001 compliance.

Frequently asked questions

The standard strongly focuses on an organization’s context. It requires the organization to consider what stakeholders expect from its occupational health and safety management. The organization must determine which parties are relevant to its OHSMS and their requirements.

ISO 45001 aims to provide an organization with a high-level understanding of the important issues that can affect it, either positively or negatively, and how it manages its occupational health and safety responsibilities toward its workers.

Issues of interest are those that affect the organization’s ability to achieve its intended outcomes. These include the objectives set for its OHSMS, such as meeting occupational health and safety policy commitments.

Top management must demonstrate its involvement and engagement with the OHSMS through direct participation, taking occupational health and safety performance into account in strategic planning.

Top management must also contribute to the OHSMS’s effectiveness by actively directing, supporting and communicating with workers, and promoting and leading organizational OHSMS culture.

ISO 45001 defines the requirements for top management responsibility and accountability to ensure that ultimate responsibility cannot be delegated to health and safety or other managers.

ISO 45001 requires top management to encourage consultation with and participation from workers and their representatives, as these are crucial to occupational health and safety management.

Consultation implies two-way communication – dialogue and exchange – and involves the timely provision of information that workers and their representatives need before the organization can make a decision.

An OHSMS depends on worker participation, which enables them to contribute to occupational health and safety performance and comment on proposed changes.

The organization must encourage workers at all levels to report hazardous situations, so preventative measures and corrective action can be taken. Workers must be able to report and suggest improvements without fearing dismissal, disciplinary action or similar reprisals.

The focus on organizational context and the requirement to adopt a risk-based approach when developing and implementing an OHSMS are closely aligned.

An organization must identify and address the risks and opportunities to ensure the OHSMS can achieve its intended outcomes.

These risks and opportunities include those relevant to or determined by its organizational context. The organization must plan actions that address these risks and opportunities, implement them into its OHSMS processes and evaluate the effectiveness of these actions.

ISO 45001 requires an organization to ensure that outsourced processes affecting its OHSMS are defined and controlled.

When outsourced products and/or services supplied are under the organization’s control, supplier and contractor risk must be managed effectively.