All organizations share a common responsibility – to ensure their employees stay safe on the job. The fight against workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths began with the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act), which requires employers to provide safe and healthy workplaces. From this act, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was established to ensure the protection of workers. How can employers meet the requirements of the OSH law? ISO 45001:2018, the occupational health and safety management system standard is a tool organizations can implement to establish a health and safety program.
Organizations of any size, in any industry, can become ISO 45001 certified. The following are steps organizations can take to start the journey to ISO 45001 certification:
- Ensure adequate resources are in place to implement ISO 45001, including time and team members. It is essential to have a unified direction or mission from strong leadership to ensure that everyone in the organization understands the goal of certification.
- Perform an analysis of your organization’s operations, and identify gaps to ISO 45001 requirements.
- Write required ISO 45001 management system documentation, including an OH&S policy, objectives and procedures.
- Involve leadership and workers in implementing the ISO 45001 management system.
- Perform an ISO 45001 internal audit. Ensuring your internal auditor is competent on the ISO 45001:2018 standard, maintains professional behavior and adheres to the audit scope, are major keys to a successful ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management System audit. Any findings or recommendations can be addressed and resolved at this time.
- Successfully undergo a certification body audit. Making sure Top Management has a clear understanding of the certification audit process is the first step to a successful certification body audit. Provide leadership by educating team members on the auditing process and communicating expectations. When people know what to expect, it can relieve some of the stress they might be experiencing. Ensure team members are aware of their possible participation in the audit. It is important to make sure that employees are knowledgeable on key policies and procedures. In order to have a confident certification body audit provide leadership by educating team members on the auditing process and communicating expectations.
ISO 45001 is more than just a management system standard. It is a powerful tool that organizations can implement to drive a positive change in the health and safety of their workplace. Together, organizations around the world will be able to create better working conditions for their most important asset – their employees. Interested in ISO 45001 certification?
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