At the international level, it has long been understood that there is a need to provide a safe and healthy working environment for workers, and that is why an international standard has been created to help organizations do so.
ISO 45001 certification is an international standard for occupational health and safety management that aims to reduce workplace risks to improve employee safety. Achieving ISO 45001 certification allows you to demonstrate that your company uses a best-practice-based occupational health and safety management system, reducing the likelihood of accidents and legal infringements, and improving the overall performance of the organization.
The standard takes into account many existing health and safety standards such as OHSAS 18001, etc., and was developed by a committee of occupational health and safety experts, making it one of the most valuable health and safety management systems to date. It can be used by all organizations. If your organization has people who work on its behalf or who may be affected by its activities, using a systematic approach to health and safety management definitely benefits the organization.
Occupational health and safety management according to ISO 45001:2018 consists of providing a safe and healthy working environment for employees, eliminating hazards, and reducing safety and health risks. In addition, obtaining ISO 45001 certification also brings many other benefits to companies, such as:
- minimizing and eliminating possible risks or errors, thus providing a safe and healthy working environment for all employees
- demonstrating corporate responsibility and commitment to occupational safety and health
- minimizing insurance costs, workplace injuries, as well as production and business interruptions
- increasing the prestige and position of the organization in domestic and foreign markets
- improving the health, happiness, morale, and responsibility of each employee
- offering a competitive advantage over other competitors
- the opportunity to attract and retain talent
To obtain ISO 45001 certification, companies must go through several steps: from learning (it is essential to know very well the standard that the company wants to apply), to the assessment of the current state of application with respect to the requirements of the standard, to the construction (it is necessary to define the scope of application and the objectives), to the application (employee training, definition of procedures, analysis of responsibilities, etc.), to the documentation of the management system, to the review of the system (internal audits) up to the choice of the certification body and the actual certification process.
Certification will only take place if the company's management system meets the requirements of the ISO, or if, during the certification audit, the certification body finds that the organization has applied an occupational health and safety management system that at some point does not comply with the requirements of ISO 45001:2018 but can be easily corrected. In this second case, the company must take action to correct these non-conformities and then have the system re-evaluated. Once certified, the system will need to be kept effective and functioning.