How can ISO 45001

help your business grow?

Copyright ©2019 Advisera Expert Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.

1
Table of Contents

Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................................3
Who is ISO 45001 applicable to? .......................................................................................................................................3
What is a health & safety management system?............................................................................................................4
Myths around ISO 45001....................................................................................................................................................4
What benefits does ISO 45001 bring to your business? .................................................................................................5
How can ISO 45001 help with an SME’s challenges? ......................................................................................................5
Options for the implementation .......................................................................................................................................6
Ensuring profit-making with ISO 45001 ............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................7
Sample documentation ......................................................................................................................................................8
References............................................................................................................................................................................8
About the author.................................................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The choice of using ISO 45001:2018 to create an Occupational Health & Safety Management System (OHSMS) for
your company is only the first step towards improved OH&S performance and organizational betterment. Your
employees are your most valuable resource, and working to prevent injury and ill health is one of the most
important elements to consider for the well-being of your workforce.

Many companies think of OHSMS implementation as a project in and of itself, while not looking ahead to the long-
lasting outcome that the ISO 45001 OHSMS should provide. By thinking ahead to the ongoing benefits that you
want to achieve through using your OHSMS as you work through the process of implementation, you can better
ensure that your processes are prepared to achieve these paybacks when the OHSMS is finally in place and
functioning.

This white paper will go through some of the important considerations that you will want to take into account when
implementing ISO 45001 so that you can find the most benefit for your company. Implementing the OHSMS is not
only about the initial activities of meeting the standard, but also about setting your organization on the path for
continued improvements that can be found while using and maintaining the OHSMS in the long term.

Who is ISO 45001 applicable to?

Many companies wonder if ISO 45001 is applicable to their specific industry or activities. In fact, ISO 45001 is
intended to be used by any organization, in any industry, anywhere in the world to create an OHSMS. The flexibility
that the ISO 45001 standard allows organizations for the implementation of the Occupational Health & Safety
Management System makes this standard the best option for demonstrating the organizational commitment to the
health and safety of workers.

The ISO 45001 requirements are descriptive, but not prescriptive, meaning they describe what activities need to be
done but not how to do those activities. This allows you to tailor the processes you implement around your unique
and specific needs. Additionally, your organization can decide where to implement the standard, so you can choose
to only implement in one location of a multisite company if this suits your needs. As a world-recognized standard
for OH&S management, an OHSMS implemented using the ISO 45001 requirements will be accepted as a best
practice arrangement to whomever you demonstrate your management system to.

For some insight into how your organization can use health & safety management, see the article: Where does
health & safety management fit into your organization?

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What is a health & safety management
system?
An Occupational Health & Safety Management System is all of the rules, policies, processes, and procedures that a
company puts in place to improve OH&S performance, meet OH&S legal requirements, and achieve OH&S
objectives. The ISO 45001:2018 standard contains the globally recognized standard requirements that provide a
framework to implement an OHSMS based on best practices from around the world.

Each organization tailors the OHSMS to its own needs and objectives, which means the company decides on the
level of OH&S performance to achieve. In this sense, ISO 45001 gives you the guidelines to follow for a correct
implementation and creation of an Occupational Health & Safety Management System. While ISO 45001 is a newly
created standard, it replaces the previous OHSMS standard, OHSAS 18001:2007. According to the OHSAS Project
Group’s 2011 Survey of standards and certificates, there are now more than 90,000 certificates issued in 127
countries, and these organizations will be transitioning to the ISO 45001:2018 standard requirements by 2021.

For a useful checklist to help you make sure you don’t miss any necessary documentation, see this white paper:
Checklist of mandatory documents required by ISO 45001.

Myths around ISO 45001

Not all of the expectations and assumptions about ISO 45001 are true, and it is important to separate the fact from
the fiction so that you know what to expect during your implementation. Knowing these facts can help you to dispel
the myths that people will bring up when they are opposed to implementing any changes within your organization.
For instance, it is not true that ISO 45001:2018 is only applicable to manufacturing organizations, as the standard
can be applied by any company in any industry. ISO 45001 also does not require that you create a lot of unnecessary
documents, nor will it stop you from being flexible and innovative; ISO 45001 is about understanding the processes
needed for OH&S performance and about improvement of the management system. So, innovation should be a
part of the OHSMS.

Probably the most pervasive myths are that the ISO 45001 standard is not required if you are legally compliant, and
that ISO 45001 is only for “hazardous” organizations. ISO 45001 does require that you understand and keep up to
date on your legal requirements, but it also focuses on improving your processes beyond mere legal compliance to
make your OH&S performance better. Likewise, the focus of ISO 45001 is understanding the hazards that are
applicable to your specific organization, and it is unwise to believe that your organization has no hazards that should
be understood and managed.

For more detail on the myths around ISO 45001, see this article: Six myths about ISO 45001.

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What benefits does ISO 45001 bring to your
business?
It is often difficult to calculate an accurate return on investment to justify implementing ISO 45001, so if you are the
person trying to convince your management that implementing an OHSMS is a good idea, you will want to be able
to show them the benefits that they will receive when the project is over. Although there is not a direct cash return,
the below four benefits will give long-term returns that will profit the company:

1. Help maintain legal compliance: Meeting OH&S legal requirements is a necessity for every business, but
the OHSMS includes processes to help you keep ahead of changes to these requirements so that you can
make changes on a schedule that best suits you.
2. Improved company image: ISO 45001 can help you to demonstrate to your customers that there is a lower
risk of delays due to injury or accidents. In some cases, it has been found that fines due to accidents can be
lower because the OHSMS shows that due diligence has been taken for the OH&S performance of the
company.
3. Reduced employee turnover: You need your workforce, and being an employer who is known to care
about employees by providing safe working conditions can entice people to want to stay. Well-trained
employees are valuable for your company, and this can help to keep them longer.
4. Habitual improvement: One of the principles that is ingrained into the ISO 45001 requirements is the need
to find ways to make the management system incrementally better over time, a process called continual
improvement. By making this a habit, you will find reductions in costs and time as you use your
Occupational Health & Safety Management System in years to come.

Remember to make your OHSMS useful for your business. While the above benefits are commonly seen when
implementing ISO 45001, it is important to remember that your Occupational Health & Safety Management System
will only return what you design it to deliver.

For more details on the benefits of ISO 45001, see the article: 4 key benefits of ISO 45001 for your business.

How can ISO 45001 help with an SME’s

challenges?
Many large corporations and multinational organizations incorporated occupational health & safety into their
management systems years ago, knowing that managing injury and ill health is a key component to meeting
customer needs. Additionally, a certified management system becomes a marketing tool that can be used to gain
the benefits listed above. Presenting your SME (small to medium-sized enterprise) as an ambitious and capable
partner can be challenging; but, using the ISO 45001 principles, it is a task you can embrace.

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Management systems can be used to attract new customers with an increasing awareness of the importance of
OH&S performance, and concerns for the risks that come from employee injury and ill health. As an SME, with a
smaller workforce than many larger competitors, you can use the OHSMS as a means of helping to ensure that the
health & safety of employees does not impact your ability to deliver to your customers. Given that ISO 45001 can
give the SME closer parity with the larger company, it is a tool to use to your advantage in trying to grow your
business.

So, is it possible for a small or medium-size business to deal with such a complex project?

As has already been mentioned, ISO 45001 can be applied to any size of organization, as it provides the flexibility to
adapt every requirement to a particular organization. It is clear that the standard can be applied to a small company,
but is it worth it? The answer is yes, because smaller companies are not expected to address OH&S protection issues
on the same level as a larger company, as their hazards tend to be fewer, and they can reap greater rewards in the
marketplace as a consequence.

Options for the implementation

There are three strategic options to implement the standard, so when your company starts thinking about
implementing ISO 45001, you should analyze different possibilities. The most expensive approach is to choose to
hire a consultant that will do everything for the company and will ensure its certification. Although this is an easy
option, the truth is that many small and medium-size companies cannot afford such an investment. So, is there any
alternative for them? Actually, there are some alternatives that can even be more beneficial in the long term. The
go-it-alone approach is the second option, where the company does all the work. If you choose this option you will
need the time and resources – that is, money – to gain the necessary knowledge to implement the standard, and
there will still be no guarantee that you will pass the certification audit.

The third option, in between the previous ones, is considering online tools that provide support and deal with the
standard technicalities. In this last case, you will not have to spend so much time with training, the knowledge will
stay in your organization, and you will be confident about the certification audit results. Remember, cost is not the
only factor that you have to examine before implementation; you will need to analyze other factors, such as the
time and knowledge resources needed, to decide which one of the above three options works better for your
organization.

For a better understanding of the implementation steps, see this article: 12 steps for implementation and
certification against ISO 45001 and the Diagram of ISO 45001 implementation process.

For more information on the certification and implementation processes, see this article: ISO 45001 certification for
companies.

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Ensuring profit-making with ISO 45001
Implementing an ISO 45001 OHSMS is an internationally recognized way to focus your company efforts on OH&S
performance and drive improvements in your company, but this process does not come without a cost. For this
reason, many business professionals ask what the return on investment of implementing an OHSMS is. In other
words – how do I make it profitable? The following aspects relate to different clauses of the standard that are key
to increasing profits in the company:

1. Identifying and evaluating hazards, risks, and opportunities: Knowing the hazards present in your
company, the risks that are presented by these hazards, and planning adequate controls is the first step in
improving the OH&S performance of your company. This, along with identifying and capturing
opportunities, will help reduce injury and ill health so that you can improve the number of hours employees
are available.
2. Planning of resources: By planning the resources needed for OH&S management, and aligning these with
other resource needs, you can better control the resources used throughout your organization, reducing
costs and increasing profit.
3. Focus on continual improvement: Improvement leads to more profit and, to start, you want to use the
OH&S objectives to drive improvements. Don’t choose objectives that do not work towards improving your
company, and ensure that you make reasonable plans to achieve the improvement goals you set in the
time you want.
4. Performance evaluation: An internal audit doesn’t just help you to know the status of processes - the
internal audit can also be used as a way to find opportunities for improvement and to find ways to make
your processes better. Additionally, using corrective actions to drive the fixing of large problems, rather
than focusing on small and insignificant problems, is another way to find profit in the OHSMS.

Any way you use the OHSMS to help you improve will ensure profit from your OHSMS implementation.

Conclusion
The secret to using ISO 45001 to help your business grow is using your OHSMS to focus on your needs. You need to
remember that this is your Occupational Health & Safety Management System, designed to improve your processes
and improve the OH&S performance for your employees. One main concern of ISO 45001 implementation is the
cost of implementation, but if you focus the OHSMS on improvements to meet your own goals, this cost becomes
less of an issue. Your certification body auditors are there to identify problems, and they may identify some
opportunities for improvement, but the OHSMS is not there to satisfy them. It needs to work for you.

So, when you are addressing the requirements of ISO 45001:2018, think about each element of your Occupational
Health & Safety Management System as you implement each process and determine how you can use this process
to become more profitable and improve business growth. You will quickly find that if you implement the OHSMS
with business profitability in mind, there are many more elements of the interrelated processes that work toward
better profitability – you just need to find them and capitalize on them.

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Sample documentation
The following toolkit can help you with the processes for implementing the ISO 45001 standard:

 ISO 45001 Documentation Toolkit

References
 45001Academy

About the author

Mark Hammar is a Certified Manager of Quality / Organizational
Excellence through the American Society for Quality, and has been a Quality
Professional since 1994. Mark has experience in auditing, improving
processes, and writing procedures for Quality, Environmental, and
Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems, and is certified as a
Lead Auditor for ISO 9001, AS9100, and ISO 14001.

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