OHSAS 18001 required the organization to have a Procedure to monitor and measure Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) performance on a regular basis (Section 4.5.1) and retain records of this activity. ISO 45001 on requires the organization to establish, implement and maintain a Process for monitoring, measurement, analysis and performance evaluations and retain records of this process and related activities (Section 9.1.1).
Within ISO 45001 the organization is required to determine:
• What needs to be monitored and measured
• The methods for monitoring, measurement, analysis and performance evaluation
• The criteria against which the organization will evaluate its OH&S performance,
• When the monitoring and evaluation will take place
• When the results from monitoring and measurement shall be analyzed, evaluated and communicated.
The organization will then be required to:
• Evaluate the performance of OH&S management system and determine its effectiveness
• Ensure the monitoring and measurement equipment is calibrated and records of calibration are retained
Examples of what could be monitored are occupational health complaints, work environment, work related incidents, injuries, effectiveness of operational controls and emergency exercises and competence.
Process vs Procedure
OHSAS 18001 required the organization to have a Procedure for periodically evaluating compliance with legal requirements and other requirements (Section 4.5.2). The organization is also required to retain records of the activities falling under this Procedures.
ISO 45001 requires the organization to establish, implement and maintain a Process for evaluating compliance with legal requirements and other requirements (Section 9.1.2) and retain records of compliance evaluation results.
Within ISO 45001 the organization is required to determine the frequency and methods for the evaluation of compliance. If there are nonconformities the organization is required to take corrective actions and remove their causes and prevent them from occurring again. The organization is also required to maintain knowledge and understanding of its compliance status with respect to legal and other requirements.
Examples of monitoring of fulfillment of legal requirements can be determination that all legal requirements have been identified and whether its documented information is kept up to date. Collective agreements when they are legally binding and status of gaps in compliance that have been identified.
Requirements
Examples of other requirement fulfillments can be collective agreements when they are not legally binding, codes and standards, corporate and other rules and regulations and policies as well as insurance requirements.
Criteria is what the organization can compare its performance with. Examples can be performance of other organizations, codes and standards, the organization’s own codes and objectives and OH&S statistics.
Indicators of measurement of criteria can be comparison of incidents and their determined rate such as frequency, type, severity or number.
Or if the Criteria is defined as a comparison of successful completion of corrective actions then the indicator of that could be percentage of corrective actions completed on time.
Monitoring can be of observation of work being performed, review of documented information such as records, the use of interviews and can include determining the status so that change from performance level can be detected.
Measurement is the assigning numbers to events or objects. It is associated with performance evaluation and can be derived from use of calibrated equipment or level of exposure or calculation of safe distance from a hazard.
Analysis is comprised of examination of data to find relationships, trends and patterns. It is associated with measurement activities.
Performance Evaluation is determining the suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of performance to meet the requirements and objectives of OH&S management system.
If your organization is looking to obtain ISO 45001 certification visit the Registrar Directory on ISO Update to find the right Registrar for you.
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.