Product, Place, Price, Promotion. AKA, The Marketing Mix. This tool developed by J. McCarthy is a business basic model “used to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market”.
The Marketing Mix is one tool that can help you as an organization understand how to promote yourself and your product in a way that makes sense for your customer and their needs.
One thing you may learn during your analysis is your customers’ need for quality for example, or perhaps they care deeply about the environment and spending their dollars with environmentally conscious companies.
Researching your customer and their purchasing decisions can lead you to a new growth avenue – but can you achieve these?
In this article, you will learn how the adoption of standards, like ISO 9001, ISO 14001 or ISO 45001 can not only help your organization and its longevity, but it can also show your commitment to your customers through certification.
Why ISO Standards?
Part of ISO Guidelines is a framework for success – guiding requirements that have been created by industry professionals and evaluated by a committee. They have been approved as an internationally adopted and recognized framework to build a business upon.
For example, if you work in the Aerospace industry, you have a different framework than those in the Automotive industry because you have different unique challenges.
The generic quality framework, ISO 9001:2015, was designed as a foundation for success with generic business principles and frameworks to allow organizations to create or improve an organization at its most basic roots to ensure efficiency and quality of work.
Implementing ISO 9001 into your business allows you to take time to look deep into the organization, and evaluate what you do great, what you do well, and what needs improvement.
Standards are not only a great foundation to grow a business upon though. These guiding requirements allow you to look within your organization, find your strength and allow them to shine and identify possible areas for improvement, places that need help to grow to their full potential.
The nature of ISO Standards audit processes allows unbiased reviews to truly see the organization without judgement. This is a great marketing opportunity to showcase your strengths.
Promote your certificate, your congratulatory statements from auditors, and what you are proud of.
Part of ISO 9001 is also measuring and monitoring. If you are interested in learning about how much productivity has gone up each quarter, or the number of sales per year, you are encouraged to do so in ISO 9001.
This is a great opportunity to learn real facts about your organization, in an effective manner, that you can then share with your customers. These are real, tangible numbers than can really impress prospective clients.
Companies with an active interest in sustainable practices, and the certification to prove that, can gain a lot of edge in the competitive hiring market place. Not only that but showcasing your commitment to sustainability and quality of goods and workplace safety with certification to ISO 45001, the standard for occupation health & safety, can prove to prospective hires how committed to their wellbeing you are.
Standards help you as an organization navigate best practises while allowing you to thrive as a unique organization and culture.
ISO Certification does not ask you to subscribe to a one size fits all approach to business. But it does show you how to eliminate inefficiencies and set you on a path for growth and longevity with a base set of tools for success.
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.
ISO 45001 is the first International Standard for occupational health and safety written by ISO. Formerly OHSAS 18001; ISO 45001 was published in March 2018 and encompasses work safety in Global supply chains that are effectively and accurately improved through the set of processes. You might be wondering, “Do I need ISO 45001 Certification?”
You might consider the need of an effective organizational health and safety management system vital for your companies growing success. But, is certification worth your effort?
Who needs and will benefit from ISO 45001?
Does your small business need ISO 45001?
The key feature of ISO 45001 is that no matter what size is the organization, it is designed to aid all. The aim of ISO 45001 is to reduce workplace injuries and illnesses globally, and companies of all sizes can benefit from the proactive approach outlined in ISO 45001.
Does demonstrating that your company is fully compliant matter to you?
ISO management systems are designed to aid organizations in creating and enforcing best practice. However, in order to endorse complete compliance and demonstrate impeccable reliability to the external parties, Certification is an absolute must. Simply following the standard is not enough to prove to external parties you are compliant, you must maintain active certification. ISO 45001 certification will allow other parties to trust you on acting upon the best practices of health and safety at workplace. Once certified, you can also advertise your certification to future clients and employees, giving them added trust in your capabilities and forward thinking.
Does your company wish to improve performance?
Through ISO 45001 Certification, your company will benefit from a structured guide, step-by-step, that will enhance your organizations performance. ISO audits goal is to not only find non-compliances, they actively seek to improve inefficiencies, with the end goal of making your organization more productive, improve performance, and satisfy your bottom line.
Does employee protection matter to you?
The standard set out by ISO 45001 management allows company owners and higher ups to determine what requirements need to be achieved to provide a safe and reliable environment for their workers and contractors. Once ISO 45001 is implemented, the Certification availed by the company thus proves the company to be safe to work at for the outer sources. Moving forward as ISO 45001 becomes more integrated into companies and their best practices, this standard could become a requirement for suppliers, contractors, etc. to do business. Like ISO 9001, companies may demand your compliance to ensure your organization is treating employees with similar standards to theirs, as are the goal of international standards.
Are you focused on improving productivity?
The implementation of ISO 45001 management allows a way towards less workplace injuries and illnesses through a proactive approach to organizational health and safety. By being proactive, a company can improve its productivity by manifolds. With ISO 45001 Certification, companies prove that they have taken every necessary measure to protect the workers, eliminating inefficient practices, and proactive measures and guides in place, employees deliver more in less time due to effective systems in place.
Do you wish to prove a commitment towards employee health and safety?
The acquirement of ISO 45001 Certification demonstrates a company’s interest towards their workers and their safety. This is a challenging aspect of many industries, especially if the work involves great physical challenges; oil refineries, factories, warehouses, etc., need to take great care to implement effective solutions to workers safety, and ensure while the job is dangerous by nature – necessary steps have and are being taken to make the workplace as safe as possible for employees and contractors.
An ISO 45001 Certification indisputably proves your company cares and will has the employees’ interest at heart, and all the precautionary measures have been taken to ensure their safety.
Do you wish to reduce workers’ insurance premiums?
With ISO 45001 implementation and Certification, companies can reduce insurance premiums. By maintaining a proactive system to reducing hazardous environments in the workplace, insurance costs will reduce, allowing your company to continue running as usual, but reducing costs associated with insurance.
The ISO 45001 Certification has several other benefits including workplace cultural change and employee job satisfaction, knowledge, and participation. ISO 45001 focuses on employee participation, and the context of Organization and Leadership points out the roles played by employees in developing occupational health and safety management system parallel to mid-level and management.
Does your company need ISO 45001?
The decision to earn your certificate for compliance with ISO 45001 is dependant on many factors, and as the decision maker in your organization, it’s your decision to make. However, it’s important to note that organizations wishing to work internationally or who want to show compliance with global standards of Health and Safety in the workplace will need to implement and obtain ISO 45001 Certification.
We knew it was coming! And on March 12, 2018, ISO 45001 was published. On March 13, ISO hosted a livestream video to answer all of your questions about this new standard.
Although we’ve been learning more about ISO 45001, and even wrote a blog a few months ago about the differences between ISO 45001 and OHSAS 18001, we wanted to summarize the main points made by the experts that created the standard.
The conversation was hosted by Maria Lazarte from the ISO General Secretariat with guests Richard Jones, Charles Corrie, David Smith and Jan Toft Rasmussen.
Richard Jones was actively involved in the development of OHSAS 18001 and its guidance and the development of ISO 45001. Charles Corrie is Secretary of the committee (ISO/PC 283) that developed ISO 45001. David Smith is the committee chair of ISO PC 283 responsible for the development of ISO 45001 and a variety of BSI management standard committees. Jan Toft Rasmussen is an experienced consultant on health and safety with a history of working in trade union federations and confederations.
We have summarized the main points addressed into the What, When, Why, How and Who’s below
WHAT
What Is ISO 45001?
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 organization to proactively improve its OH&S performance in preventing injury and ill-health.
ISO 45001 is intended to be applicable to any organization regardless of its size, type and nature. All of its requirements are intended to be integrated into an organization’s own management processes. ISO 45001 enables an organization, 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 organization can be required by applicable legal requirements to also address such issues
What Happens to OHSAS 18001?
OHSAS 18001 has been withdrawn effective March 12, 2018. Companies who are currently using OHSAS 18001 will need to migrate to ISO 45001 within three years.
What is Different Between ISO 45001 and OHSAS 18001?
They are very similar in that they both use a Plan, Do, Check, Act model. ISO 45001 encompasses most of the areas of OHSAS 18001 for occupational health and safety.
ISO 45001 Speaks To Leadership
The differences are that 45001 follows the structure of other international standards. There is a much larger focus on the responsibility of leadership in ISO 45001. It also speaks to the need for worker participation. The standard aims to have worker health and safety be a central tenant in the way a company operates, integrated into overall business processes. Health and safety isn’t a stand alone process or the responsibility of one person or department.
From the delegates on the committee representing workers, they sought to participate in making their workplace safer but they really wanted language in the standard to make sure their top management was clear that they hold ultimate responsibility for setting this into place in their organization ISO 45001 is More Comprehensive
ISO 45001 is designed to take into account many more factors than 18001. For instance, ISO 45001 recognizes other formats for data collection and storage – such as digital formats to reduce paperwork. Beyond just health and safety, ISO 45001 gives management a tool to strengthen their entire business if they follow it.
ISO 45001 is More Proactive
ISO 45001 focuses on continually assessing opportunity to reduce risks.
ISO uses terms across all of their standards that users will be familiar with – for example, the term “legal requirements” is used instead of “compliance obligations” because they wanted to make it clear that some countries have a legal requirement to do certain things.
The standard pursues the idea that every employee has a role to play in thinking about health and safety. For example, the purchasing manager should think about risks before they place every order for equipment that workers will use.
What about small businesses?
Small businesses (SMEs) can absolutely adopt 45001 even if they don’t currently have 18001.
ISO 45001 makes it clear that all top management have a role to play in health and safety.
WHEN
ISO 45001 was published on March 12, 2018. On that day, OHSAS 18001 was withdrawn. Companies who are currently using OHSAS 18001 will need to migrate to ISO 45001 within three years. Transition period started 3-12-18 and by 3-12-21 all OHSAS 18001 certifications must be migrated to ISO 45001.
WHY
Why Was The ISO 45001 Standard Created?
Too Many Work-Related Injuries, Illnesses and Deaths
Over 7,600 people die each day from work-related accidents or diseases. The video mentioned the fact that every 12 seconds a worker dies in the world on the job. The burden of occupational injuries and diseases is significant, both for employers and the wider economy, resulting in losses from early retirements, staff absence and rising insurance premiums.
International Standard Makes it Accessible
Clearly this a problem across the world that having an international standard was almost overdue. Although there are health and safety standards locally and even nationally, there needed to be an official standard that transcends borders to create a safe and healthy working environment everywhere. Hopefully, with the new international standard in place, it will create a more popular and accessible standard worldwide and the number of injured workers will decrease over time.
HOW
How Does ISO 45001 Help Workers?
The ISO 45001 standard provides a systematic, comprehensive approach to health and safety on the job. It answers many specific questions on how to prevent injury and illness, rather than just dealing with them as they arise.
Health and Safety is Everyone’s Job
All levels of the organization are addressed in this standard. It’s not just applicable to one employee or department, rather, it offers guidelines for the entire organization, especially decision makers and leadership.
Using PPE As Last Resort
Rather than offering PPE (personal protective equipment) and hanging safety signs, this standard aims to be “in front” of issues before they happen.
An example was shared in the video regarding excess noise. While many recommendations may be to simply offer PPE to workers near the noise, this standard illustrates how to work to pinpoint the noise, measure it, and how to mitigate it instead of simply handing out ear protection.
PPE is not the foundation of the safety standard. The standard helps organizations create an environment that doesn’t require PE in the first place. In other words, PPE is a last resort.
How can we convince top management to adopt ISO 45001?
There are many benefits to following or certifying to ISO 45001. These include overall improved performance, better cooperation amongst employees and managers, better respect amongst ranks of workers and management, insurance costs reduced, and less worker turnover.
In some countries, this standard helps ensure legal requirements are met. It may reduce the pressure organization’s face from labor or government inspectors. And finally, it fulfills customer request or demand that their vendor partners have a system in place to protect employees.
How is ISO 45001 Connected to other ISO Standards?
In developing ISO 45001, the committee made sure it’s compatible with Annex SL – which is the framework used by ISO 9001, 14001 and 27001. Common terminology is used between all standards so it is easier to align 45001 with 9001. For companies that use both of these standards, it will be a stronger, better, higher quality and safer company.
WHO
Who Developed ISO 45001?
ISO 45001 was developed by ISO/PC 283, a technical committee made up of experts from around the world. The ISO 45001 committee ensured they had feedback from all parties that would be affected by ISO 45001. They sought to achieve balance between government, employers and workers, so they requested and received recommendations on who should be involved in the process of developing the standard from those three major group.
Delegates from these three areas nominated to represent their interests in the development of the standard. The delegates represented 85 countries.
The committee also had external liaison representation from: International Labor Organization, International Trades Union Congress, International Organization of Employers and others.
Who Needs ISO 45001?
ISO 45001 is designed for any company, in any industry, of any size, in any location around the world. Any company that cares for their employees can use this standard, even if they are not seeking to be certified to it.
Whether Seeking Certification or Not
Companies are able to use this standard to confirm their organizations are safe by benchmarking themselves against it. It was designed to be used as a tool regardless if the company is seeking the certification or not.
Existing OHSAS 18001 Certification Holders
OHSAS 18001 has been withdrawn effective March 12, 2018. Companies who are currently using OHSAS 18001 will need to migrate to ISO 45001 within three years. Three years is the standard period of time that ISO uses to give standard holders to upgrade to newly published standards. All new certifications will be to the ISO 45001 standard.
Who Does ISO 45001 Impact?
Employees and Subcontractors/Vendors
Organizations must also consider what their suppliers and subcontractors are doing. They don’t need detailed knowledge, but the organization should put the interaction into place for personnel for suppliers within the organization’s system.
Glacier Consulting offers full consulting, auditing, and training services along with ongoing maintenance packages for all of your quality, environmental, health and safety, energy and sustainability needs.
This article was originally posted on Glacier Consulting’s website and is published here with permission.
Since its first publication in 1999, OHSAS 18001 has been a recognized occupational health and safety management system (OH & SMS) standard against which management systems can be assessed and certified. 19 years later, a new ISO standard has been released to replace OHSAS 18001; this standard is ISO 45001.
ISO 45001 is an OH SMS standard developed by an ISO Project Committee which was published on March 12th 2018. A number of differences are evident between ISO 45001 and OHSAS 18001. Some of the main differences between the two standards are explored below. The experts at The Registrar Company took the time to dissect the new standard to determine the most pertinent differences between the two standards that you need to know.
The first difference concerns its structure. ISO 45001 is based on the ISO Guide 83 (“Annex SL”) which defines a common high level structure, text and common terms and definitions for the next generation of management systems (e.g. ISO 9001, ISO 14001, etc.). This structure aims to facilitate the implementation process and the integration of several management systems in a harmonized, structured and efficient manner. Such structure is as follows:
Scope
Normative References
Terms and Definitions
Context of the Organization
Leadership
Planning
Support
Operation
Performance Evaluation
Improvement
In the new standard, there is a stronger focus on the organization’s context. With ISO 45001, organizations will have to look beyond their own internal health and safety issues and consider what their interested parties expect from them regarding health and safety.
Some organizations that use OHSAS 18001 delegate health and safety responsibilities to a safety manager, rather than integrating the system into the organization’s operations. ISO 45001 requires the incorporation of health and safety aspects into the overall management system of the organization, thus driving top management to have a stronger leadership role with respect to the OH&S management system.
ISO 45001 focuses on identifying and controlling risks rather than hazards, as is currently required in OHSAS 18001.
ISO 45001 requires organizations to consider how suppliers and contractors are managing their risks.
In ISO 45001 some fundamental concepts are changed, like risk, worker and workplace. There are also new definitions of terms such as: monitoring, measurement, effectiveness, OH&S performance and process.
The terms “document” and “record” have both been replaced with the term “documented information” in ISO 45001. The standard also states that documented information must be maintained to the extent necessary to have confidence that the processes have been carried out as planned.
In spite of these changes, the overall aim of ISO 45001 remains the same as OHSAS 18001, which is to reduce unacceptable risks and ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved in an organization’s activities.
At The Registrar Company (TRC), the new ISO 45001 standard and its complexity is our top priority. We are working diligently to offer this standard to our current and future clients, so your organization can remain top of class in health and safety. Learn about we can help your organization achieve ISO 45001 certification in 2019.
The Benefits of Integrated Management Systems: Guest article from Steve Tyler, CEO & Founder of BusinessDocsOnline
Are your Business Management Systems still operating in Silos?
If so then you may want to think about adopting a more integrated approach…
Working in Silos?
There comes a point in the development of many organisations when they need to obtain some form of certification, and for the majority they will probably implement a management system for either Quality or Health & Safety.
There then follows a period of time where their requirements for certification will be covered with a single management system.
However, once an organisation grows to a point where it requires more than one management system, then that is the time for top management to step back and consider adopting a more integrated approach.
Yet too many organisations miss this opportunity and implement their management systems as stand-alone platforms. They then end up with individual management systems being used in silos.
For some organisations, working in silos may be the most suitable way to function, and there may be operational reasons why this approach works best for them.
“a mind-set present when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company. This type of mentality will reduce efficiency in the overall operation, reduce moral, and may contribute to the demise of a productive company culture.”
Whilst an integrated management system may not work for every organisation, for many the long-term benefits will far outweigh the short-term effort required to move forward.
So why not integrate your management systems and eliminate all the inefficiencies and duplication of activities that are part and parcel of having individual systems and working in silos?
But how easy is this to achieve?
The PDCA Cycle: – Plan – Do – Check – Act
With the latest release of ISO 9001:2015, this revised standard aims to further develop the “Risk Based Thinking” approach within an organisations. It also brings two other aspects into the management system arena that are going to redefine the future of management systems. One of these is Annex SL and the other is the PDCA cycle.
Lets come back to Annex SL later, and deal with the PDCA cycle first. Within ISO 9001:2015 this functions as follows:
Plan
Top Management must assess the risks & opportunities that may impact on the organisation and carry out the planning required to ensure these risks do not affect the organisations ability to deliver its “desired outputs”. Exploiting any opportunities that have been identified must also be planned.
Do
Process activities must be carried out in such a way as to ensure they are aligned with the outputs of the planning processes.
Check
Top Management must review & measure the organisations performance against their objectives.
Act
Top Management must also plan & implement any actions that will deliver continual improvement.
Whilst the “desired outputs” of each organisation are quite unique, one way or another they all lead back to Customer Satisfaction. Once Customer Satisfaction can be monitored, it can be measured. And as the saying goes – “What gets measured gets done….”
So we can see how the PDCA cycle works for a Quality Management System, but this is really just the tip of the iceberg.
This PDCA cycle can now be applied to just about every other ISO standard, including Health & Safety [45001]*, Environmental [14001:2015] and Information Security Management [27001], and every system you implement can follow the same structure.
The net result here is that it is now possible to implement an integrated management system that combines Quality, Environmental, Health & Safety and Information Security.
But can they be that much more effective if they are integrated?
The Benefits of Integrated Management Systems
Once an organisation has decided to integrate their management systems then it’s at this point they can start to see the real benefits.
Organisations that have already implemented a single management system based around the PDCA cycle will find it up to 50% quicker when they come to implement their next management system.
The PDCA Cycle means it is possible to integrate your management systems into one platform, and organisations can now implement a single solution that controls all of the following:
Risks & Opportunities for Product & Services
Customer Requirements & Satisfaction
Environmental Impacts
Health & Safety Hazards
Information Security Integrity
With this integrated approach, much of what is needed from the management team can now be done under one umbrella, and top management can now take a broader view of their organisation whilst undertaking the following activities:-
Planning
Assessments of Risk & Opportunities
Internal Audits
Management Reviews
Continual Improvement
The end result is that:
The organisation can now be managed using joined-up thinking.
Auditing models can be revised to provide a much broader remit, but with fewer audits.
KPI’s & SMART objectives can now become more aligned.
But just how well are all the different standards able to interact, and how easy is it to implement a single integrated platform across 2, 3 or 4 different management systems?
That’s where Annex SL comes in…
What is Annex SL?
Annex SL is an ISO document that defines a high level structure [HSL] for the framework of a generic management system.
It was first published by ISO’s Technical Management Board (TMB) in 2012 and the recent release of ISO 9001:2015 has been revised to align with Annex SL.
Annex SL has arrived with a vengeance with the latest version of ISO 9001:2015, and is now here to stay.
In the future, all new ISO management system standards will adhere to the Annex SL framework and all current management system standards will migrate to it at their next revision.
As a result of the introduction of Annex SL, all ISO management system standards will become more consistent, and hence more compatible. They will share the same look and feel, having been built on a common foundation. The structure of all management systems will now include the following sections:
Context of the Organisation
Leadership
Planning
Support
Operation
Performance Evaluation
Improvement
There are common core definitions too; the following words will have the same interpretations across all Annex SL standards:
organisation
interested party (preferred term)
stakeholder (admitted term)
requirement
management system
top management
effectiveness
policy
objective
risk
competence
documented information
process
performance
outsource (verb)
monitoring
measurement
audit
conformity
nonconformity
correction
corrective action
continual improvement
Annex SL represents the beginning of the end of the conflicts, duplication, confusion and misunderstanding arising from subtly different requirements across the various management system standards.
Auditors now face the challenge of focusing their own, and their clients’, thinking on viewing organisations’ management systems holistically.
On the 8th of December in 2016 Schedule 16 of Bill 70, the Building Ontario Up for Everyone Act (Budget Measures), 2016, gained royal assent and its amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act came into effect:
Schedule 16 – Occupational Health and Safety Act – says:
“The Schedule amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to give the Chief Prevention Officer the power to accredit health and safety management systems, and to give recognition to employers who use accredited health and safety management systems. The Chief Prevention Officer may also establish standards and criteria that must be met by health and safety management systems or employers in order to receive accreditation or recognition. Related amendments are also made.”
What Schedule 16 Means
What this means in a nutshell is that once the CPO (Chief Prevention Officer) has defined the requirements through bill 70 for an accredited health and safety management system, companies could then become certified to that system. Certified companies that are then able to demonstrate their commitment to using a coordinated system to improve their OHAS would then be able to benefit from things such as reduced routine inspections through the MOL.
In addition, the CPO will need to put in place a system that will recognize and incentivize companies to become certified. Details of those companies and their performance can then be made publicly available through the CPO.
Currently the CPO has not yet released any standards for accredited health and safety management systems and has said that they will be holding an “extensive consultation” to develop an “accreditation standard and employer recognition program”. Until the CPO actually defines the standards for accredited health and safety systems, the changes implemented by this act will have no real effect on anyone.
ISO 45001 as a Framework for OHS Standards in Ontario
Of course, an accredited standard is currently on the verge of being released should the CPO want to use the framework provided by ISO. The new standard ISO 45001Occupational health and safety management system – requirements will follow a similar framework to that of ISO 9001 and 14001 giving companies an accredited standard against which they can be certified by a third party. This new worldwide standard will become available hopefully towards the end of 2017.
Assuming that this will meet the expectations of the CPO and interested parties then this would be a perfect way for companies to start putting in place processes, procedures, and other measures to drive continuous improvement in occupational health and safety.