11.03.2021- ISO 45001 implementation deadline
Every day in the world, approximately 6300 employed people lose their lives either due to occupational diseases or work-related accidents, ie more than 1,000,000 lives / year.
The list of tragic events at work in our country is, unfortunately, much too long, reaching a number of hundreds of such cases every year, which unfortunately puts us in the first places in the European rankings of this gender.
All these accidents and illnesses, in addition to the undesirable effects on the people involved, including their relatives, generate negative effects on the country's economy and employers.
Over time, attempts have been made to find organizational systems so that the goal of 0 accidents at work can be achieved.
In the modern era, a reference standard in this direction is the ISO 45001 standard, with its origins in the OHSAS 18001 standard - initially published in 1999.
Surveys on OHSAS standards and certificates, based on 2011 data, have shown that 127 countries use standards for occupational health and safety management systems, based primarily on the adoption or adaptation of OHSAS 18001.
In March 2013, a new proposal for a standard was presented, which led to the development of the ISO 45001 project on occupational health and safety management systems - user guide requirements.
ISO approved the ISO 45001: 2018 standard as a replacement for the OHSAS 18001: 2007 standard and on March 12, 2018, the new ISO 45001: 2018 standard on occupational health and safety management systems - user guide requirements was published.
The overall purpose of the standard remains the same and those familiar with OHSAS 18001 will recognize many of the themes of the new ISO standard.
However, there are some interesting developments related to the new rules on the development of international standards for management systems. For example, much more emphasis has been placed on the "context" of an organization and a greater role has been assigned to top management and leadership. Thus, an organization must look beyond its immediate health and safety issues and consider what society expects of it. Organizations need to think about contractors and suppliers, as well as how their work could affect the environment.
ISO 45001 insists that occupational health and safety issues must be incorporated into the organization's global management system, which requires a much stronger involvement of its top management and leadership. This will be a big change for users who can currently delegate the responsibility of a security manager.
Being a new standard, the transition from OHSAS 18001: 2007 to ISO 45001: 2018 was called migration, and not a transition as we were used to when moving to a new edition of the same standard. According to the IAF resolution 2016-15 (adopted at the International Accreditation Forum General Assembly in New Delhi, India on 4th November 2016) the migration period to ISO 45001: 2018 is 3 years from the date of its publication (12.03.2018). At the end of the period of migration, there will be no valid certificate having as reference OHSAS 18001: 2007, so the certificates issued during the migration period, having as reference OHSAS 18001: 2007, will have the validity term at the latest until the end of the migration period (11.03. 2021). No subsequent audit will be performed according to OHSAS 18001: 2007.
The migration from OHSAS 18001 to the new international standard ISO 45001 has its benefits for the organization. Thus, by implementing and correctly implementing a system for occupational health and safety management, proposed by the ISO 45001 project, helps organizations reduce the number of accidents and occupational diseases, to avoid costly prosecutions, possibly to reduce insurance costs, and to create a positive organizational culture when employees find that their needs are taken into account.
But at the same time, it has its challenges, among which we mention:
After all, it is important to carry out our activity safely, legally, and the performance of our activity as well as of the organization we are part of should not be overshadowed by unwanted accidents / incidents.
The list of tragic events at work in our country is, unfortunately, much too long, reaching a number of hundreds of such cases every year, which unfortunately puts us in the first places in the European rankings of this gender.
All these accidents and illnesses, in addition to the undesirable effects on the people involved, including their relatives, generate negative effects on the country's economy and employers.
Over time, attempts have been made to find organizational systems so that the goal of 0 accidents at work can be achieved.
In the modern era, a reference standard in this direction is the ISO 45001 standard, with its origins in the OHSAS 18001 standard - initially published in 1999.
Surveys on OHSAS standards and certificates, based on 2011 data, have shown that 127 countries use standards for occupational health and safety management systems, based primarily on the adoption or adaptation of OHSAS 18001.
In March 2013, a new proposal for a standard was presented, which led to the development of the ISO 45001 project on occupational health and safety management systems - user guide requirements.
ISO approved the ISO 45001: 2018 standard as a replacement for the OHSAS 18001: 2007 standard and on March 12, 2018, the new ISO 45001: 2018 standard on occupational health and safety management systems - user guide requirements was published.
The overall purpose of the standard remains the same and those familiar with OHSAS 18001 will recognize many of the themes of the new ISO standard.
However, there are some interesting developments related to the new rules on the development of international standards for management systems. For example, much more emphasis has been placed on the "context" of an organization and a greater role has been assigned to top management and leadership. Thus, an organization must look beyond its immediate health and safety issues and consider what society expects of it. Organizations need to think about contractors and suppliers, as well as how their work could affect the environment.
ISO 45001 insists that occupational health and safety issues must be incorporated into the organization's global management system, which requires a much stronger involvement of its top management and leadership. This will be a big change for users who can currently delegate the responsibility of a security manager.
Being a new standard, the transition from OHSAS 18001: 2007 to ISO 45001: 2018 was called migration, and not a transition as we were used to when moving to a new edition of the same standard. According to the IAF resolution 2016-15 (adopted at the International Accreditation Forum General Assembly in New Delhi, India on 4th November 2016) the migration period to ISO 45001: 2018 is 3 years from the date of its publication (12.03.2018). At the end of the period of migration, there will be no valid certificate having as reference OHSAS 18001: 2007, so the certificates issued during the migration period, having as reference OHSAS 18001: 2007, will have the validity term at the latest until the end of the migration period (11.03. 2021). No subsequent audit will be performed according to OHSAS 18001: 2007.
The migration from OHSAS 18001 to the new international standard ISO 45001 has its benefits for the organization. Thus, by implementing and correctly implementing a system for occupational health and safety management, proposed by the ISO 45001 project, helps organizations reduce the number of accidents and occupational diseases, to avoid costly prosecutions, possibly to reduce insurance costs, and to create a positive organizational culture when employees find that their needs are taken into account.
But at the same time, it has its challenges, among which we mention:
- The requirements of the new standard will be easy to implement?
- Will additional investments be needed?
- Will additional qualification courses be required?
- Will the existing system built on OHSAS18001 be able to be used as a basis for building new requirements on it?
- Are the steps to obtain ISO45001 certification difficult to follow and fulfill?
After all, it is important to carry out our activity safely, legally, and the performance of our activity as well as of the organization we are part of should not be overshadowed by unwanted accidents / incidents.
