The UNI ISO 45001:2018 standard "Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems - Requirements with guidance for use" is a new international standard that provides organizations that intend to adopt it with a model to manage risks and opportunities to prevent occupational accidents and diseases of workers.
The expected result of the application of this standard is to provide those who attend it with a healthy and safe workplace.
ISO 45001 is intended to help organizations, regardless of their size or industry in which they operate, in the design of systems to proactively prevent injuries and illnesses to employees. All its requirements are designed to be integrated into the management and business processes of an organization and to be treated by integrating them with any other management systems present in the company such as, for example, that relating to quality or the environment.
At the basis of its development we find the simple modello plan-do-check-act (PDCA) that we have already seen, for example, in ISO 9001 and that provides organizations with a reference to pianificare ciò che devono mettere in atto, in order to minimize the risk of injury or illness. The measures taken should also address concerns that can lead to long-term health problems and absence from work, as well as those that can lead to injury.
ISO 45001 allows an organization, through its Sistema di gestione per la salute e sicurezza sul lavoro, to integrate other aspects such as worker welfare. Compared to the most famous standard for health and safety at work that was the reference before the ISO 45001, the OHSAS 18001, there have been important changes. Let's look at them briefly:
- The structure has changed because the new standard has adopted "Annex SL" as a reference, as have the other standards of management systems such as, for example, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
- The idea of context analysis has been introduced, the elements of which should be used to understand and determine the scope in which one operates and the related issues that may affect the way an organization manages the system
- With the new standard it is necessary to identify the needs and expectations of workers and all stakeholders who can in some way influence the health and safety management system or who perceive to be influenced by it
- The focus is now more on top management who must ensure consistent leadership in guiding the management system and support the active participation of workers. Management must assume overall responsibility for protecting workers in relation to all factors related to health and safety at work, ensure the definition of the policy and objectives of the system, make the system compatible with the strategic direction of the organization, integrate it into business processes, allocate the resources necessary to manage it in the best possible way, ensure the active participation of workers and workers' representatives, develop internal and external communications to support health and safety in the best way, ensure that the management system achieves the expected results, direct and support people to contribute to the effectiveness of health and safety, ensure the continuous improvement of the system, support managers in turn to support workers in their areas of responsibility and develop, guide and promote an organizational culture that supports health and safety
- Now the active participation of workers who do not occupy managerial roles is fundamental in the determination and removal of obstacles or barriers to participation, in the identification of dangers and in the assessment of risks, in defining actions for the management of these dangers and risks, in the identification of skills and training needs and in the evaluation of training, in the determination of information to be communicated, in the investigation of accidents and non-conformities and in the involvement in corrective actions, in defining the needs and expectations of stakeholders, etc.
- With the new standard, a proactive identification of hazards and an assessment of risks and opportunities is required
- The new standard requires the planning of the health and safety management system considering the issues of the context, aiming to meet the requirements of the stakeholders, defining the scope of its management system, determining the risks and opportunities that must be addressed
- The maintenance and preservation of documented information necessary to demonstrate the good functioning of the management system is required. This change is intended to prevent the risk of unintentional use of obsolete documents, especially in terms of risk prevention with regard to health and safety at work
- The guarantee that outsourced processes that affect the management of health and safety at work are controlled is required
- A performance evaluation of the management system is needed, which must be based on the formalization, implementation and maintenance of a process for monitoring, measuring and evaluating