Understanding Common Misconceptions About ISO 45001

Introduction

ISO 45001:2018 is an ISO standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management System. While it is globally recognized and implemented by many organizations, there are still many misconceptions surrounding this standard. This article will help you clear some of the common misconceptions prevailing.

Understanding The Common Misconceptions About ISO 45001

Here are some of them:

1. ISO 45001 is a standard that can be applied only to manufacturing sector and only hazardous organization

• The major focus of ISO 45001 is to have comprehensive understanding of the legal obligations that are applicable to the organization as well as the hazards that the organization is dealing with. Such scenarios will be very obvious in a manufacturing set up but it can be employed across business sectors. The main aim is to assess the risk and lower it by applying control measures that will help to reduce the probability of occurrence of an incident as well as reduce severity which in turn will upgrade the occupational health and safety performance of organization. In continuation to that, a follow up such doubt is if it is applicable only to organization that deals with hazardous/dangerous operations, the answer is no. The aim should be to integrate the OH&SMS requirements with organization’s existing processes thus avoiding any redundancy and duplication.
  

2. Legal Obligations

• One of the most important aspects of ISO 45001 is compliance obligations. Compliance obligations can be regulatory requirements as well as requirements of the organization. The need is to establish a process to identify such obligations and create a process to comply with such requirements in terms resources needs, timelines, etc. Overall the main aim is not look at checklist but rather focus on improving OH&MS performance. There is also a misconception that if an organization is legally complaint, one doesn’t need an ISO 45001. The reality is compliance obligations go beyond just regulatory requirements. 

3. Increased Documentation

• This for the fact is not true by any means. ISO 45001 exclusively states the requirements of documented information wherever required across clauses of the standard. Document requirements are designed in a way that helps organizations create a plan to implement processes. Like for example, in employee consultation and participation there is a requirement to ensure records are maintained but it is up to the organization as what kind of documents and records are to be maintained such as training needs identification, training records, etc. It does not exclusively state the documents, formats, maintenance of the same, etc. 

4. Implementation of ISO 45001 costs quite a lot

• There is a general perception that implementation of an ISO 45001 would mean overwhelming paperwork with no major benefits to the organization, also additional cost to the company. This is not true. The intention of implementing ISO 45001 is to enhance the Occupational health and safety performance of the organization and if one implements with this intention as the goal, the organization is set to achieve and reach the goal to improve processes. Results of some might be seen in short period of time while some might take a little longer.

5. ISO 45001 implementation may interfere with operational flexibility

• The main aspect of ISO 45001 is that requirements are not prescribed i.e requirements are stated but the process and method of achieving those requirements is up to the organization. Like for example, there is a need in the ISO 45001 standard which required employee participation. But at the same time, it does not state the way to accomplish this. It is up to the organization to adapt a methodology or take a series of steps to achieve the desired need. It is also up to the organization if it wants to integrate with existing management systems or an organizational internal system, the only thing that needs to be addressed are clause requirements. No exclusive efforts to create and set up a system separately for ISO 45001 implementation. Thus ISO 45001 is not restrictive and does not interfere with any operational processes. 

6. Only large size industries can implement ISO 45001

• With ISO 45001, there is yet another misconception which is pertaining to size of the organization. There is a misconception that only large size industries are eligible to implement ISO 45001. But the fact is irrespective of size of the organization, ISO 45001 can be implemented to any organization. The size of the organization has nothing to do with ISO 45001 implementation. The only difference would be few clauses might be applicable while some might not. Organizations can customize the OH&SMS framework as per their own set up or processes and achieve to reduce injuries, create safe working space, etc. 

7. ISO 45001 is a time-consuming process

• There is also a common misconception that implementing ISO 45001 would be time intensive process. Implementing any ISO standard or management system demands efforts and time but ISO 45001 align with Annex L framework. Thus it eases the process of integration with other standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, etc. Also emphasis has been placed on the role of top management in ISO 45001 which is needed in stakeholder engagement. The need is to create plan with timelines for implementation of the standard along with assignment of resources. 

Conclusion

The interpretation of ISO 45001 that goes beyond the general perception about the standard is important in organizations that would like to develop a robust organizational culture on occupational health and safety (OH&S). Most corporations presume that ISO 45001 is complicated, expensive, or only applicable to large companies, however, it is in the truth that the standard is a thinly-distributed, scalable guideline that aids both large and small-sized organizations in the business sector.