ISO 45001 Certification Support in Iraq

ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management System

ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System

ISO 45001:2018 specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety management system. It provides a framework for organizations to manage OH&S risks and improve performance; it does not set organization-specific safety results or guarantee that incidents will not occur.

ISO 45001:2018 is the replacement for OHSAS 18001 and provides a framework for organizations to manage risks and opportunities to help prevent work-related injury and ill health to workers. The standard focuses on mitigating any factors that are harmful or that pose a danger to workers' physical and mental wellbeing.

Key Elements of ISO 45001

The ISO 45001 standard is based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model and includes the following key elements:

• Context of the organization - Understanding the needs and expectations of workers and other interested parties
• Leadership and worker participation - Top management commitment and active involvement of workers
• Planning - Identifying hazards, assessing risks and opportunities, and setting objectives
• Support - Resources, competence, awareness, communication, and documented information
• Operation - Operational planning and control, emergency preparedness and response
• Performance evaluation - Monitoring, measurement, analysis, and evaluation
• Improvement - Addressing nonconformities and continual improvement

Benefits of ISO 45001 Certification

A well-implemented ISO 45001 system can support:

• Structured hazard identification and OH&S risk assessment
• Defined worker consultation and participation
• Identification and evaluation of applicable legal and other requirements
• Clear OH&S objectives, responsibilities, and operational controls
• Better integration with other ISO management systems
• Monitoring, incident investigation, corrective action, and management review
• Evidence for customers and an independent certification-body assessment

ISO 45001 Implementation Process

Our implementation and internal-audit support team helps organizations prepare the following:

1. Gap Analysis - Assessing current OH&S practices against ISO 45001 requirements
2. Planning - Developing implementation plan and timeline
3. Development - Creating necessary documentation and processes
4. Implementation - Putting the OH&S management system into practice
5. Training - Educating employees on the new system
6. Internal Audit - Evaluating conformity with the organization's audit criteria and applicable ISO 45001 requirements
7. Management Review - Evaluating system effectiveness
8. Certification Audit - External assessment by a certification body

The certification body remains independent and makes its own findings and certification decision.

ISO 45001 and legacy OHSAS 18001 systems

ISO 45001 replaced OHSAS 18001. Organizations still using legacy OHSAS procedures should assess their current practices against ISO 45001:2018 rather than describe an OHSAS certificate as current ISO 45001 certification. Relevant differences include:

• Greater emphasis on organizational context
• Stronger focus on leadership and worker participation
• Process-oriented approach rather than procedure-based
• Consideration of risks and opportunities
• Enhanced performance evaluation