ISO 45001:2018
ISO 45001 is an international standard that specifies the requirements for an occupational health and safety management system (OHS) and provides guidance for its use, to enable organisations to provide safe and healthy workplaces by preventing occupational accidents and health problems and proactively improving OSH. It is applicable to any organisation that wishes to establish, implement and maintain a management system to improve occupational health and safety, eliminate or reduce risks (including system failures), and exploit OSH opportunities.
WHAT IS IT?
The ISO 45001: 2018 standard outlines the requirements for the certification of the occupational health and safety management system within companies.
The basic requirements for starting the ISO 45001 certification process are:
- to implement a health and safety management policy within the workplace, shared with the most important company figures and communicated both internally and externally through the communication channels normally used;
- carry out its activities in compliance with the H&S regulations.
WHY STARTING?
The health and safety certification allows companies to certify the standards of excellence to their customers and suppliers and partners and to develop a system of prevention and risk management in the workplace, in compliance with the legal obligations on the subject with the objective of guaranteeing the reduction of risk towards its personnel and material resources.
ISO 45001 is a voluntary non-mandatory standard, but its possession is becoming an indispensable attribute to face the challenges of the market.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Through the creation of a health and safety management system in the workplace, the operations office takes an active role in the production process: it must work in favor of the prevention of unforeseen events through effective planning and reduction of accidents and occupational diseases.
Capital lenders and insurance brokers are more predisposed to support companies that demonstrate that they keep their risks under control, the aid can turn into lower interest on the capital lent or lower insurance premiums.
HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?
The ISO 45001 certification has a three-year duration and can always be renewed: at the end of the three-year period, the companies can activate the procedures to renew their certificate which will be reissued with the updated date and the changes that will be deemed necessary.
Upon achieving the first certification, IWZ will carry out maintenance checks at the expiry of the 1st and 2nd year from the date of issue of the certificate. At the end of the 3rd year, the customer will have the possibility to decide whether or not to renew the certificate.
WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS STAGES?
- Request for certification: in this stage we establish the economic aspects and the activities that will be performed by the auditors during the certification process. IWZ will submit its certification offer to the customer and an agreement will be signed between the parties (application for certification).
- Pre-assessment audit (optional): in this optional stage, the customer can interface with IWZ’s staff who will examine the level of preparation of the certification’s management system with the aim of improving its processes and minimizing major non-conformities.
- Certification Audit: in this phase the actual certification audit begins, which takes place mainly at the company headquarters. The auditor, following an inspection of the various sites covered by the certificate and after interviewing the top management figures, collects information and checks the documentation relating to the certification’s management system. It determines which are the mandatory and voluntary reference standards for the system to be certified. In the absence of major non-conformities, the auditor will submit a request to the decision-making committee to issue the ISO certification.
IWZ is able to guarantee the conclusion of the certification process in a short time according to the needs of the customers and the maturity of the system under certification.
