Chemical Industry ISO 45001

ISO 45001 is a standard developed around the “plan-do-check-act” method. It explains the requirements for an occupational Health and Safety Management System intended to improve employee safety, reduce risks and create better, healthier and safer workplace environments.

The emphasis of ISO 45001 is placed on the roles and responsibilities of top management. Although functional tasks may be passed on, the ultimate responsibility for implementing the correct procedures rests with top management. The standard summarises the roles of top management as being:

• To create, orchestrate, maintain, monitor, develop and promote a management system that enforces a Health and Safety culture into a business’s everyday activities, and to ultimately create safe workplaces with fewer accidents and incidents.

Although ISO 45001 is not mandatory, it is strongly recommended that top leadership establishes the basic principles of this standard in their company culture. An initial gap analysis needs to be performed in order to determine an organisation’s current level of Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) performance which will then indicate what needs to be put in place to achieve ISO 45001 conformity. This gap analysis can be performed with available diagnostic tools to lay out a step-by-step improvement program to reach an acceptable level for accreditation. Organisations may choose to employ management consultants with the proper knowledge of this standard.

For more information on implementation of ISO 45001 and the transition from OHSAS 18001 view here.

Employee participation will be crucial, as a requirement of ISO 45001 is to provide open channels of communication throughout an organization. Regular meetings, internal notifications and publications will be needed. Did you know: The worldwide cost of accidents and poor health in September 2017 shows that work related fatalities have increased to 2.78 Million annually. This means that companies and employers need to put the well-being of their employees first, to reduce Accidents, Incidents and Fatalities.

It may be probable that to comply with ISO 45001, companies may need to have a legal register. A legal register is a guidebook that shows the scope of what is required to reach compliance in each industry, according to Bylaws, Standards, the OHS Act and Regulations and other Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental documents.

You can download an example of a legal register here

Benefits of implementing ISO 45001

• ISO 45001 puts the organisation in a higher category of business which is internationally recognised.
• A reduction in workplace injuries, incidents and illness results in an increase in productivity.
• Creates consistency for the Occupational Health and Safety best practices in your company.
• Improves your processes for identifying risks and hazards in your workplace.
• Promotes management oversight through monitoring and measuring of key performance indicators in Health and Safety.
• Encourages continuous improvement within your organization.
• ISO 45001 allows companies to work with supply chains for government or a company that extends beyond national boundaries to export its products or services.

Implementation of ISO 45001 and the transition from OHSAS 18001 free download here.