Certification Profile
When the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) Project Group published OHSAS 18001 (requirements) and 18002 (guidelines for implementation) in 1999, it constituted the first single, unified approach to the subject of occupational health and safety. By the time BSI Group adopted OHSAS 18001 as a British Standard in 2009, more than 54.000 certificates had been issued in 116 countries.
Ιnternational Αcceptance
Building upon this strong foundation and with an aim to increase the international acceptance of the 18000 standards, the International Standards Organization (ISO) in 2013 embarked on the project of developing ISO 45001 as an improved analogue and successor.
Statistics of loss and death*
Every day:
- 868 493 accidents occur on the job
- 6 300 workers die from work-related accidents or illnesses globally
- a total of 4% of the world’s Gross National Product (GNP) is lost for the same reasons – Or, in other words, every company loses 4% of their turn-over
*Source: ILO Statistics via www.iso.org
The objective of ISO 45001 is to help organizations in designing systems to prevent injury and ill health, regardless of size or industry. All of its requirements are designed to be integrated into an organization’s overall management processes, following the so-called ISO High Level Structure, already adopted by ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015.
Structure & Terminology
The standard has the same structure as ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015, and also shares the same terminology. This makes it easier to integrate OH&S management into the overall management system.
There is a couple of changes worth noting:
- Focus on the context of organizations
- Risk-based approach
- Context of organizations
- Stronger role for top management
Benefits for your organization
- International standards set benchmarks that apply across political, economic and social barriers
- High-level structure for easy integration with ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and others
- Suitable for organizations of any size or structure
- Reduce risk and improve your brand’s image in the eyes of customers and business partners
- Less accidents means less interruption of operational processes
- Protect your brand by ensuring your suppliers fulfill OHSAS requirements
- Simplifies compliance with legal and regulatory requirements
