How Does ISO 45001 Differ to OHSAS 18001?

The new ISO 45001 standard has been published and supersede OHSAS 18001. It is a truly international standard as scores of countries will agree to it.

Note: Companies already certified to OHSAS 18001 will have 3 years’ to become certified to the new standard.

The new standard applies the ISO High Level Structure and is compatible with ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 thus easily integrated with these management systems and give more value to the organizations.

What are the Differences Between ISO 45001 and OHSAS 18001?

Context of Organization

Companies will have to define the Context of their Organizations, meaning the External and Internal Issues in the environment in which they operate. The Context will have to be systematically determined and monitored.

The organization shall have to look the conditions affecting the operations such as regulations, stakeholders and governance. They have to understand the drivers of their organizational culture.

Needs and Expectations of Workers

The Needs and Expectations of Workers and other Interested Parties such as Shareholders, Customers and Board Members have to be defined. From this step the requirements and deliverables of the Management System will be further developed.

Risks and Opportunities

Organizations will be required to determine the Risks and Opportunities that may impact its ability to deliver planned results which shall include enhancement of health and safety of employees during the job. Legal and other requirements have also got to be identified and considered.

Leadership

There is increased emphasis on the Leadership of the company to become engaged in and be responsible for the management system to be more effective.

Objectives and Performance Reviews

There is an increased focus on the Objectives determined by the organization as improvement drivers and their achievement shall be evaluated during Performance Review. The Objectives should support the Policy and shall be considered within the available resources. The responsibility for achieving Objectives, the time frame and measures to establish progress has to be decided and should evaluate whether Objectives have been achieved. Documented information has to be retained about objectives and plans to achieve them.

Communication Requirements

Communications requirements have been enhanced in terms of defining the objective of communication and if it was effective in addition to Who, What and When it should take place.

Removal of Preventive Action

Preventive Action has been removed from Corrective and Preventive Actions. The Preventive Actions are now undertaken in the Risk Management Processes while determining the risks and opportunities and ways to reduce or eliminate risks and undertake opportunities.

Health and Safety

It also allows the participation and consultation of workers to a higher degree in the Health and Safety Management System.

The new standard has requirements for taking care of and monitoring the health and safety of workers in the Contractor’s organizations and in Outsourced Processes and during Procurement Processes.

Risk Control

For the reduction of OH&S risks and eliminating Hazards the new standard specifies hierarchy of controls in an order of preference with reference to risk management. Hazards and risk controls are required to be planned in the operational controls. The standard introduces requirements for management of planned changes in operations such as working conditions, work force, equipment as well as changes in risks and known hazards.

Implementation of the new ISO/FDIS 45001 standard will result on overall better Health and Safety of Workers and reduced accidents.

Learn more about ISO 45001 Standard

Read more about Monitoring and Measurement in ISO 45001

ISO Terms Explained

To the novice quality manager, ISO jargon can be extremely overwhelming. What is an NCR? What do you mean by OFI? Are we certified or accredited? But before you go and pull out your hair, let’s take a moment to go over some of the most frequently used terms and their definitions with regards to ISO and Management System Certification.