ISO 45001 Clauses Explained: Detailed Breakdown

Introduction

ISO 45001 published in 2018 is a standard that provides a framework for the implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Management system. This framework is designed to address the occupational health and safety risks at workplace and work towards its improvement. This system also has indirect benefits associated with its implementation such as reduction in injuries which ultimately leads to lower insurance premiums, engagement of employees, enhance productivity of the employees and overall uplift the brand value of the organization.

Basic Structure Of ISO 45001:2018

ISO 45001 Clause-by-Clause Explanation 

Clause 1: Scope

• Defines the scope of the standard, i.e. Requirements of Occupational Health and Safety Management system intended to be applicable to any organization, regardless of its type or size, or the products and services it provides.

Clause 2: Normative references

• Provides a list of reference documents and standards that are essential for understanding and implementing ISO 45001.

Clause 3: Terms and definitions

• These are same as given in ISO 45001:2018 and deal with terms and related definitions to person or people, organization, activity, process, system, requirement, result, data, customer, characteristic, determination, action, audit

Clauses 1 to 3 of the standard contain only introductory information. These are not auditable clauses. This helps organizations understand the theme, terms, definitions about the standard, helping organizations understand the theme of occupational safety and health.

Clause 4: Context of the organization

Clause 4 of ISO 45001 deals with the context of the organization that includes activities carried out in the workplace and the relevant documentation to record the needs of all relevant interested parties. Further internal and external issues are also identified. Internal issues such as competence building, leadership commitment, etc. It also addresses the willingness of workers in adapting occupational health and safety norms. External issues include determination of legal obligations including any impact due to the political and economic condition.

Clause 5: Leadership and worker participation

Clause 5 deals with demonstration of leadership and commitment by Top Management and defining role and Responsibilities, encourages both management commitment and involvement from employees. It encourage for collaboration to integrate occupational health and safety requirements in the day to day activities of the workplace. This will help in developing a culture too that is conducive to OHSMS requirements. 

Clause 6: Planning the OH&S system

Clause 6 deals with organization’s process to define and address Risks and Opportunities, set objectives and targets, action plan to effectively plan for OHSMS. It also encourages organizations to do a thorough analysis to set objectives and targets, also to map a detailed management plan that will help in achieving those targets. Focus should be on risk assessments that takes into account the regulatory requirements, stakeholder needs and expectations, incidents occurring in the organization, its root causes, feedback from employees, etc. Surveys can be conducted to gather information on feedback of OH&S effectiveness on ground and gaps that might not be clearly identified as per reviews. Clause 6 encourages organizations to understand:

1. Needs

2. Required resources to fulfill needs, including people resources at stage of implementation

3. Timelines for implementation 

4. Evaluation of the actions

Clause 7: Support

Clause 7 covers the following elements:

1. Resources

2. Competence

3. Awareness

4. Documented Information

5. Communication

Successful implementation of a management system depends on the correct allocation of the resources at the required time. These resources can be people, equipments, services, etc. Here top management plays a vital role since reigns of approval lie with them. Apart from the resources, there is also continuous work that needs to be done towards competence building of people, conducting awareness sessions at certain periodicity, etc. This clause also deals with documented information and a process that needs to be established to create, maintain, update and retrieve information as and when required. 

Clause 8: Operation

Clause 8 deals with operational controls and emergency preparedness and response. It also specified requirements for procurement and outsourcing. Operational controls play an important role in maintaining efficiency of the OH&S management system. Organizations have to look into the processes to develop and customize operational controls as per the needs. Emergency response preparedness is another such area that needs to be focused. Timely assessment of the processes is required to determine the probable emergency scenarios and when that is done, process can be established to tackle such situations efficiently. 

Clause 9: Performance evaluation

Clause 9 deals with monitoring and measurement of the OH&SMS performance which is including compliance management and ensuring internal audit results are implemented.

Monitoring, measurement and subsequent evaluation is key in maintaining OH&S performance.  Periodic assessments helps organisations determine the compliance status as well as rate the effectiveness of the management system.

Clause 10: Improvement

Clause 10 deals with corrective Actions, Continual Improvement derived from the OH&S management system. This includes dealing effectively with non-conformance and employing a good corrective action process. Results of the assessment can help organizations take steps to further improve and implement actions that assist in continual improvement. 

Conclusion

The provisions of the ISO 45001 (which are usually arranged in Clauses 4-10) provide a well-defined, risk-based management system that adheres to the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. Practically, learning how to use these clauses will assist organisations to hold incidents and legal liability down to bare minimum, enhance the trust and moral of their workers and provide measurable OHS performance, turning ISO 45001 not into a certification checklist, but a real roadmap towards sustainable operations that are safety-oriented.