How to get ISO 45001 CERTIFICATION
Who gets ISO 45001-certified?
Any company can seek ISO 45001 certification if it wants to maintain high safety standards. Although obtaining ISO 45001 certification is not legally required, doing so can help businesses improve their occupational health and safety rating, guarantee the safety of their workers, and strengthen their management structure.
What does becoming ISO 45001-certified mean?
The international standard for occupational health and safety, or ISO 45001, is a set of rules that businesses must adhere to in order to protect their employees. The International Standards Organization (ISO), a recognized organization that hires health professionals to develop occupational health and safety standards, offers ISO 45001 certification to businesses. Due to the fact that employees frequently depend on management to uphold appropriate safety standards, ISO 45001 certification places a strong emphasis on a company’s management practices.
The ISO 45001 certification shows that a company can safeguard employees from harm and provide for their physical and mental health needs. A company with an ISO 45001 certification typically has the following characteristics:
Common ISO 45001 terminology
In the context of health and safety certification, the ISO frequently employs certain terms with specific meanings. Before you apply for certification, it’s crucial to become familiar with the ISO definitions of specific terms to better understand ISO 45001 requirements. Here are some terms and their definitions by ISO standards:
Hazard identification
Hazard identification, according to the ISO, is the process of identifying and reducing all workplace risks. Because each industry has unique risks, the ISO committee may identify various risks depending on a company’s industry.
Workplace
According to the ISO, a workplace is a location under control of an organization where workers perform work in exchange for payment. Particularly, the ISO broadened the definition to include workplaces across a number of industries.
Employee
According to the ISO, a person who works for a company is considered an employee if they are doing so while being supervised by management and engaging in work-related activities.
How to get and maintain ISO 45001 certification
You can take the following steps to have your workplace certified for ISO 45001:
1. Complete a pre-assessment
Pre-assessments are an optional step that organizations provide businesses to help them better understand their current workplace health and safety standards. You can identify areas for improvement in your company’s management structure and safety regulations by conducting a pre-assessment. Pre-assessments can be carried out by a health and safety consultant or by you using online ISO 45001 certification checklists.
2. Explore ISO resources
You can use the ISO’s resources to learn more about its standards and procedures in order to get ready for your certification audit. In order to give management personnel a better understanding of the impact safety has on their businesses, the ISO typically publishes its research online and in scholarly journals. It’s also crucial to research the ISO before you finish your audit to learn about any new studies or recently revised certification requirements.
3. Undergo a certification audit
Each company applying for ISO 45001 certification takes part in a certification audit to ensure it complies with all ISO requirements. There are two stages during the audit. A company must demonstrate compliance with the necessary safety standards at each stage, and the committee must identify and certify safe practices and effective management procedures.
Stage one involves the committee visiting a worksite to assess conditions and consult with management and staff about a company’s standard operating procedures and hazard identification. Stage one typically takes one to two days to complete. A company enters stage two after a committee determines it has successfully completed stage one by producing an audit report that details any instances of failure to comply with certification requirements.
4. Obtain a certificate of registration
The committee can reject a business’ certification and point out problem areas if it discovers too many non-compliant items during its audit. However, if your business receives a registration certificate that is valid for three years and has its name added to a global registry of ISO 45001-certified companies,
5. Continue adhering to standards
By staying alert to safety issues and holding regular management meetings about risk assessment, you can make sure that your company keeps up with industry safety standards. After a company receives ISO 45001 certification, the committee that granted the certification conducts annual audits to make sure the necessary health and safety standards are maintained. They have the right to revoke your certification until they notice improvement if they discover that your workplace no longer adheres to the necessary standards.
6. Pass a re-certification process
The re-certification procedure typically entails a committee conducting a second, more thorough, two-step audit than the interim annual audits. Given that health and safety committees frequently add requirements to the certification or change safety standards, it is important to stay up to date with new information released regarding the ISO 45001 certification. You can get information on certification updates from the committee that conducted your audit in order to stay current on certification requirements.
What is included in an ISO 45001 checklist?
In the certification audit, a committee looks at a company’s daily operations and how management supports safety procedures to determine whether it complies with certain health and safety requirements. The following items can be found on a standard ISO 45001 certification checklist:
Context of an organization
This criterion examines how well a company recognizes and comprehends the needs of its employees. The specific health and safety issues that affect employees are identified by committees, and the business’s response to those issues is then determined. This might entail making sure a company offers suitable resources for workers with disabilities.
Leadership
This requirement makes certain that the leadership demonstrates dedication to the security of their employees and a thorough knowledge of ISO safety regulations. Management must develop and implement occupational health and safety management systems that safeguard employees in order to achieve ISO 45001 certification. By giving employees clear direction, management can demonstrate organizational abilities and leadership qualities, which aids in meeting certification standards.
Planning
Planning refers to a company’s capacity for problem-solving and problem-identification. An audit committee seeks out instances of management personnel assessing risks and the steps they take to completely eliminate risk. To better understand potential risks in their workplace, management can conduct routine risk assessments. They can also regularly consult with employees to gauge how safe they feel at work.
In the planning phase, management personnel also set health and safety objectives and devise strategies for achieving those objectives. A certification committee typically requests documents that contain goal assessment. For instance, if a company wants to implement the use of safety equipment, they could outline the steps they took to stick to their budget and provide workers with the necessary tools.
Support
This criterion determines whether a company has the resources necessary to create and maintain certification standards. In this section, management’s methods for informing staff of safety regulations and ways to get in touch with the ISO committee are covered. For instance, a company might give its staff extensive documents on safety guidelines to keep them knowledgeable and secure.
Operation
Operation refers to the degree to which a company plans and enacts safety procedures. The management team of a company might be encouraged by a committee to plan and monitor all operations to guarantee employee safety and take advantage of any opportunities to improve emergency preparedness and accident response. When managers comply with the requirements for operational supervision and safety planning, committees assess their level of organization.
Performance evaluation
Committees use performance evaluation to analyze a businesss evaluation process. They frequently demand that management conduct regular assessments of their certification compliance, employee and management reviews, and operations for improved performance. Regular evaluations by management personnel may help them spot risks more quickly, which can speed up the process of solving problems.
Improvement
The term “improvement” describes a company’s response to instances of noncompliance during an audit. Goals for improvement and the adoption of better safety procedures are frequent components of the improvement process. Effective improvement procedures can demonstrate to committees that a company satisfies the criteria for certification.
Please note that Indeed is not affiliated with any of the businesses mentioned in this article.
FAQ
What are the ISO 45001 requirements?
- Clauses 1–3: Terminology and scope. …
- Clause 4: Context of the organisation. …
- Clause 5: Leadership and worker participation. …
- Clause 6: Planning for the OH&S system. …
- Clause 7: Support. …
- Clause 8: Operation. …
- Clause 9: Performance evaluation. …
- Clause 10: Improvement.
What is ISO 45001 certification and why it is important?
The implementation of ISO 45001, which is intended to assist businesses of all sizes and sectors create workplaces that are safe for their workers, is anticipated to lower the number of workplace accidents and illnesses globally.
How much does it cost to get ISO 45001 certified?
The answer is, of course, it depends. You must take into account the price of setting up an ISO 45001 management system, buying standards, taking training sessions, and hiring consultants and auditors. While a larger organization may spend significantly more, a small organization may only spend $10,000–$15,000.
How long does it take to get ISO 45001 certified?
Depending on the focus, knowledge, expertise, and resources available, an ISO 45001 implementation may be possible in a company with 20 or fewer employees in about six months. Larger organizations might need a year, but as was already mentioned, other factors may also be involved.
