Transition to ISO 45001: Occupational Health & Safety Management System

Introduction

The Transition to ISO 45001: Occupational Health & Safety Management System training course will cover factors affecting health and safety at work; different approaches to occupational health; hazards such as chemicals, plant, equipment, electricity, fire, explosive materials and biological hazards; health and safety in high-risk industries, such as agriculture, construction and manufacturing; developing an organization’s safety policy; accident reporting; legislation, policy and ethics; and preventing pollution. You'll also study occupational psychology - how both the culture, psychology and management of a workplace, and individuals' behavior, attitudes and motivation affect health and safety, and how to deal with psychological hazards in the workplace.

• Elements of an OH&S program
• Hazard identification
• Risk assessment
• Basic hazard control methods
• Policy / management commitment
• Roles and responsibilities
• Continuous improvement

ISO 45001 will be a voluntary standard that is not legally binding but aims to help organizations to manage their OH&S risks and improve their performance to make people safer and healthier. Certification will help organizations to demonstrate that they have a robust OH&S system in place and will recognize that they have achieved an international benchmark – which will boost their reputation to customers and employees alike. Other benefits include:

• A robust system to comply with OH&S regulations
• Fewer accidents mean less absenteeism, lower employee turnover rates and better morale
• Reduced disruption to operations in terms of time and cost

Objectives

This Transition to ISO 45001: Occupational Health & Safety Management System training course aims to help participants to develop the following critical objectives:

• Why an ISO standard is being developed?
• The process and timescales (potentially published in 2016)
• Three new concepts being introduced
• The potential impact on organizations with OHSAS 18001 certification
• Recognize the differences between a program and a management system
• Demonstrate leadership in the development and implementation of a health and safety/environmental management system
• Understand the PDCA approach used in management system standards
• Know the elements of a health and safety management system and an EMS and how to apply them
• Identify the differences in elements of OHSAS 18001:2007 and the new ISO 45001 standard
• Develop the necessary procedures, policies and other related documents required for OHSMS or EMS
• Implementation in line with the new standard
• Understand how to meet the requirements of the ISO 45001: 2016 standard

Training Methodology

This Transition to ISO 45001: Occupational Health & Safety Management System training course will combine presentations with instructor-guided interactive discussions between participants relating to their individual interests. Practical exercises, video material and case studies aiming at stimulating these discussions and providing maximum benefit to the participants will support the formal presentation sessions. Above all, the course leader will make extensive use of case examples and case studies of issues in which he has been personally involved.

Organisational Impact

It is hoped that the users of standards such as OHSAS 18001 and the ILO-OSH Guidelines will adopt ISO 45001 as it does not conflict with these documents and enhances the opportunity for integrating OHS management into the overall business processes.

The benefits of adopting ISO 45001, apart from it being a new consensus standard, is that it will naturally align to the formal management approaches adopted for other business risks in the suite of ISO management systems standards. This should be of benefit to SMEs when trying to manage multiple requirement standards.

The risk-based approach to managing OHS contained in ISO 45001 is not new, nor does it conflict with the more traditional compliance approach. It advocates taking a preventative angle to OHS in order to identify what activities and processes could harm those working on behalf of the organization and others (i.e. visitors, members of the public, etc.) and to meet any legal compliance requirements. The standard does not deal with products and how they should be used or maintained. The focus is the workplace. There is a need to identify the hazards at work in order to eliminate or minimize those that pose a significant risk.

Personal Impact

ISO 45001 will help drive individual development of systematic processes that consider the broader context, taking into account the risks, opportunities, legal requirements and more, which will help to embed OH&S firmly to improve OH&S performance.

Employees will take an active role in OH&S, helping to reduce lost time due to accidents or ill health – creating a better working environment for your people and reducing costs and downtime in the process.