ISO 45001
Occupational health and safety management systems
The international standard for an occupational health and safety management system, certified by an accredited body, replacing OHSAS 18001; often required by larger clients and frameworks.
ISO 45001 sets out the requirements for a management system that lets an organisation control its health and safety risks and improve its performance: leadership and worker participation, a policy, hazard identification and risk assessment, legal requirements, objectives, competence and awareness, communication, documented information, operational controls including contractors and procurement, emergency preparedness, monitoring and measurement, internal audit, management review, incidents and corrective action, and continual improvement. It shares the high-level structure of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, so the three can be run as one integrated system.
Certification is by a UKAS-accredited certification body, through a two-stage audit followed by annual surveillance and a three-yearly recertification. It is not a legal requirement and it is not the same as SSIP; SSIP checks the arrangements a contractor has, ISO 45001 checks that a full management system is running and improving. Larger clients, frameworks and Tier 1 contractors increasingly ask for it. For a small firm, the effort is in the documented system and the internal audit, and the value is in the tenders it opens.
Where it comes from
- ISO 45001:2018. Certification by a UKAS-accredited body.
- Evidences compliance with the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 but is not itself required by law.
Questions people ask
Do I need ISO 45001 or SSIP?
SSIP is the pre-qualification most clients ask for and is proportionate for a small contractor. ISO 45001 is a certified management system, more work and more cost, asked for by larger clients and frameworks. Get SSIP first; add ISO 45001 when a client you want requires it.
Can I self-certify to ISO 45001?
You can claim conformity, but clients mean third-party certification by a UKAS-accredited body when they ask for it. Self-declaration will not get you through pre-qualification.
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