ISO 45001 is an international standard that specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system, with guidance for its use, to enable an organisation to proactively improve its OH&S performance in preventing injury and ill-health.

ISO 45001 is intended to be applicable to any organisation regardless of its size, type and nature. All of its requirements are intended to be integrated into an organisation’s own management processes.

ISO 45001 enables an organisation, through its OH&S management system, to integrate other aspects of health and safety, such as worker wellness/wellbeing; however, it should be noted that an organisation can be required by applicable legal requirements to also address such issues.

Certified companies will have a certificate that bears a stamp similar to the one below. The stamp can vary in size, colour and shape, it can even be embedded within the companies logo, but the key identifier is the words ISO 45001 Certified or ISO 45001 Registered.

Benefits of using ISO 45001:

An ISO 45001 based OH&S management system will enable an organisation to improve its OH&S performance by:

• developing and implementing an OH&S policy and OH&S objectives
• establishing systematic processes which consider its “context” and which take into account its risks and opportunities, and its legal and other requirements
• determining the hazards and OH&S risks associated with its activities; seeking to eliminate them, or putting in controls to minimise their potential effects
• establishing operational controls to manage its OH&S risks and its legal and other requirements
• increasing awareness of its OH&S risks
• evaluating its OH&S performance and seeking to improve it, through taking appropriate actions
• ensuring workers take an active role in OH&S matters

In combination these measures will ensure that an organisation’s reputation as a safe place to work will be promoted, and can have more direct benefits, such as:

• improving its ability to respond to regulatory compliance issues
• reducing the overall costs of incidents
• reducing downtime and the costs of disruption to operations
• reducing the cost of insurance premiums
• reducing absenteeism and employee turnover rates
• recognition for having achieved an international benchmark (which may in turn influence customers who are concerned about their social responsibilities