Why Organization should perform effective ISO 45001 internal audits?

To maintain their employees’ health, safety, and welfare, many organizations adopt ISO 45001. Even though the fact that laws can vary from one nation to another and even from one region to another, ISO 45001 is the only global standard that demonstrates a company’s concern for everyone’s well-being and commitment to enhancing workplace circumstances. In light of this, it is crucial for businesses, especially those operating in industries where there is a higher risk of accidents, to have an adequate health and safety management system in place. Consider the possibility of, for instance, being assigned to work at a nuclear power plant or to assist in the construction of a high-rise structure without any rules or regulations about health and safety.

So, we all know that taking health and safety precautions at work is important and that ISO 45001 can help with that. We are aware that the ISO standard family follows the “Plan, Do, Check, Act” cycle, which encourages measurement, monitoring, and action to ensure ongoing progress. The internal audit mechanism, which may spot gaps, non-conformances, and bad practices and remedy them, plays a crucial role in this process. 

In many industrial sectors, internal audits are seen as a necessary measure. It is not overly dramatic to remark that, as a component of your ISO 45001 system, this very function, if performed correctly, can significantly improve conditions and even perhaps save lives for businesses in specific sectors. When the management team conducted its Management Review, you will have prepared for a specified number of internal audits.

The frequency of internal audits may even have been enhanced by the management’s risk assessment policies, suggestions from stakeholders or staff members, or the unlucky occurrence of a workplace accident or incident. Whatever the agreed-upon frequency, the internal audit must comply with the requirements that follow:

• Make sure the audit will need to be conducted by an internal auditor who isn’t a stakeholder in the actual department of evaluation and can demonstrate impartiality and fairness
• Ensure that the auditor has received the necessary ISO 45001 internal auditor training to execute the job effectively
• make sure that all laws and regulations are followed, explained, and met
• Make sure the management staff performs a “leadership” role in establishing and ensuring that goals, standards, and targets are met
• Include the workforce in the evaluation of the efficacy of an OH&S management system, as well as the efficacy of training and awareness campaigns
• make certain that risks are continually evaluated, managed, reduced, and eliminated.
• Ensure there is a line of communication open for information, feedback, and suggestions to be conveyed from top management to all stakeholders and staff
• Establish a cycle of continuous improvement that will enable the idea of enhanced health and safety to exist and grow
• Make that a corrective action system (or an equivalent) is in place to efficiently help quantify, identify the cause of, and eliminate any discovered issues to the satisfaction of both management and staff of a business

What are the benefits of ISO 45001 standard internal audit?

Financial Benefits. Who among the executive team dislikes financial advantages? You won’t have costly production delays caused by accidents and incidents if your OH&S management system is supported by efficient internal audits.

Morale and positive core relationships. A secure workplace increases team confidence. Maintaining morale can be achieved by making sure your internal audit process is compatible with the OH&S management system. The organization’s care for its employees may be shown by the actions and words taken, and by using employee feedback in the internal auditing process, it can be seen that the issue of workplace safety is taken seriously and that employees are truly respected.

Reputational aids. An amazing health and safety record sustained through the implementation of efficient internal audits is a great indicator of a company’s health for a potential customer. A potential customer can feel more confident doing business with the organization if they can demonstrate their organization’s success and commitment to improvement in their OH&S management system.

So, there are numerous advantages to having a strong ISO 45001 internal audit process supporting an efficient OH&S management system. Adhering to the requirements of ISO 45001 might help to safeguard the employees while also perhaps advancing the company.

Tips That Help to Maintain the OHSMS After ISO 45001 Certification

The international standard for occupational health and safety is ISO 45001, and it was created to safeguard both staff and visitors from diseases and accidents that could occur at work. The objective of ISO 45001 certification is to reduce any risks that could hurt both individuals and enterprises permanently. Its standards are the result of a lot of hard work by a group of health and safety management professionals who carefully examined several different system management techniques, like ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. Additionally, OHSAS 18001 and other current occupational health and safety standards, as well as the labor rules, conventions, and safety guidelines of the ILO, were taken into consideration when developing ISO 45001.

Because of the amount of effort and man-hours invested for most businesses, obtaining ISO 45001:2018 certification is usually a huge relief. The reaction may be to relax and rest on the achievements for a time, but it is not the best thing to do. If you hired a consultant, he or she will almost certainly be looking for new opportunities after the successful audit; similarly, if you implemented the system with internal resources, the employees involved will almost certainly be looking for new projects or devoting time to tasks that were neglected during the busy and stressful run-up to the certification audit. In any case, if you’re one of the individuals in charge of the company’s OH&S system, then attention will be going to how to ensure that requirements are met and continuous improvement develops. So, here are some tips that help to maintain the OHSMS After ISO 45001 Certification.

After passing the ISO 45001 certification audit, an organization should build excellent practices and meet the ISO 45001 standard provisions. As a result, a business will need to repeat the essential factors of these clauses and develop efforts that result in continuous improvement. Some of these tips may be useful to you:

• Create and maintain an “event calendar” or diary: It is an efficient method of ensuring that future dates for essential regular events, such as internal audits, employee feedback, risk assessments, and reviews of the organization’s health and safety policy, are recorded in your OH&S management system. All needs for compliance and regulation changes can also be noted here.
• Create a continuous improvement document: Continuous improvement is at the heart of the ISO standards, but it can be difficult to quantify or justify. Individuals can keep track of any planned projects, activities, or even suggestions that lead to measurable improvement by keeping a formal record. In addition to providing physical proof for the auditor during the initial surveillance audit, it is a typically good ISO 45001 documents to examine in a departmental or top management meeting, and it may also be of interest to clients and stakeholders.
• Set up a health and safety forum: If you haven’t already, this will ensure that the business meets the consultation requirements and, as a result, will help with danger detection and corrective action. A regular forum or meeting can also be scheduled to keep employees focused on the critical parts of the OH&S system stated above and their performance. The ISO 45001 auditor training also plays a significant part in this.
• Evaluate continually: Make sure that any occurrence or information is constantly recorded, examined, and addressed by the team.
• The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle: Ensure that this approach is consistently applied throughout the following year. Make sure that the foundation of the OH&S system is effective planning, with changes that have been made based on accurate and trustworthy data analysis. Through the minimization of risk, the recognition of dangers, and effective efforts to improve, this will lay the groundwork for ongoing progress.

How Organization become ISO 45001 Certified?

According to the International Labor Organization, over thousands of people die each day from work-related accidents or diseases. The human cost of this day-to-day difficulty is huge, and the economic problem of poor occupational safety and health practices is projected at 3.94 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product every year. If organization want to manage health and safety well, they will need a systematic framework to start with. The ISO 45001 Standard, Occupational health and safety management systems – Requirements with guidance for use, it is an ISO international standard delivering such a framework. It helps any type of organization to stop work related deaths, injuries and illnesses, to meet legal requirements, and to systematically expand safety performance, and to reach the set Occupational Health and Safety purposes. While an independent audit by a certification body of safety management system against the ISO 45001 standard is not compulsory, it is the only way to confirm Certification. Otherwise, one can choose for Self-Declaration of Conformance, to avoid the associated costs of Certification. Business partners may require or prefer suppliers and contractors which hold an ISO 45001 obedient occupational health and safety certificate.

ISO 45001:2018 substitutes the British Standards Institution’s OHSAS 18001, which will be withdrawn at the end of the three years transition period on March 12, 2021. There is little time left for change to ISO 45001 for organizations which are certified according to OHSAS 18001, while an extension of 6 months has been granted due to the challenges posed by COVID-19.

Organizations can get their Occupational Health and Safety Management System certified by certification bodies while individuals can get certified, as ISO 45001 internal and lead auditors. This section delivers information on the steps towards the ISO 45001 certification for organizations.

In order to get ISO 45001 certified, the organization requires to execute Occupational Health and Safety Management System obedient with requirements of ISO 45001. Once the system is in place, the organization can hire certification body to accomplish the certification audit to determine whether the organization is compliant with the ISO 45001 standard. After the successful audit they want to deliver the certificate which testifies to the organization’s compliance with requirements of the ISO 45001 standard. Implementing ISO 45001 standard is a challenging task and the first step is to get the management support for such endeavor. With the top management on board, start identifying legal requirements regarding occupational health and safety, define the scope of the OH&SMS and OH&S policy and objectives, identify risks and opportunities and OH&S hazards and define operational controls. There are some mandatory processes that need to be included, and others to be added if the organization finds them necessary.

As part of confirming constancy of Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Organization will essential to document many procedures and policies that will communicate to the employees what expect from them in regard to the OH&SMS. The documents can be created internally, or also can seek for external help in form of ISO 45001 consultant or documentation templates. After the organization establishes the processes and required documented information, the system will need to operate for some time to determine whether the system is set up appropriately and whether some changes are required. By operating the occupational health and safety management system, the organization will produce records that will prove that the activities are carried out as planned. These records are essential for auditing and reviewing system and to achieve certification.

Why is ISO 45001 being a good idea for organization?

ISO 45001 is an international standard for occupational health and safety, delivered to protect employees and visitors from work-related accidents and diseases. ISO 45001 certification was established to mitigate any factors that can cause employees and businesses irreparable harm. Its standards are the result of great effort by a board of health and safety management experts who looked carefully at a number of other approaches to system management with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. In addition, ISO 45001 was designed to take other existing occupational health and safety standards, such as OHSAS 18001, into account as well as the labor standards, conventions and safety guidelines.

An Occupational Health & Safety Management System, often called an OH&SMS, describes the framework in which the organization cares for the occupational health and safety of its employees. It signifies a set of rules, policies, procedures, plans and practices for preventing occupational health and safety hazards and reduces risks in the workplace. OH&SMS is unique for every organization and it must be acceptable to the legal requirements, occupational health and safety hazards and business processes applied in the organization. ISO 45001 represents the best practices in establishing, executing and maintaining the OH&SMS. Its requirements and guidelines help an organization to establish effective OH&SMS and to avoid missing important elements along this way.

There is no doubt that execution of ISO 45001 brings advantages to the organization. As mentioned before, the number of organizations, both large and small, that have already applied OHSAS 18001 is already large and still growing. ISO 45001 brings all the advantages of OHSAS 18001, with addition of some new ones. Here are just a few of these benefits:

Improve image and credibility: By assuring consumers that have a commitment to establish and maintain an occupational health and safety management system, organization can improve image and market share by decreasing the number of OH&S incidents on the workplace and distribution a clear message that organization takes care of its employees.

Improve cost control: One improvement that all organizations are looking for is a decrease of costs. The OH&SMS can help with this by increase rating at insurance companies, while reducing occupational health and safety incidents that may lead to lawsuits and deterioration of the organization’s image.

Use evidence-based decision making: By confirming that organization are using precise data to make decisions on what to improve, organization can greatly increase the chances that improvements will be successful the first time, rather than having several unsuccessful attempts. By using this data to track progress, organization can accurate these improvement initiatives before they go “off the rails,” which can save costs and time.

Create a culture of constant improvement: With constant improvement, organization can work toward better processes and reduced occupational health and safety hazards in an organized way, in order to improve public image and possibly reduce costs. When a culture of improvement is created, people are always look for ways to make their processes improved, which makes maintaining the OH&SMS easier.

Engage people: Given a choice between working for a company that shows care and concern for occupational health and safety and one that does not, most people would prefer the first one. By engaging employees to decrease occupational health and safety hazards, organization can rise theirs focus and retention.

To implement ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety management system, any organization can appoint a management personnel or manager, who has taken certified ISO 45001 lead implementer training and having knowledge of ISO 45001 based OHS awareness, its requirements, as well as documented information, steps for system implementation and certification, etc. Such personnel serves an organization with effective implementation of OHS system and continuous improvement to achieve maximum benefits from implemented system.

Information about Monitoring and Measurement in ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System

ISO 45001 is an international standard for occupational health and safety management system, refining employee safety, decreasing workplace risks and making better and safer working conditions. The standard proves an organization’s commitment to controlling its health and safety risks by executing processes and procedures to decrease the risk of work-related incidents.

An organization faces many health and safety associated issues despite planning and establishing several systems in place to confirm that all health and safety related requirements are addressed. Issues like more than expected health complaints, incidents resulting in serious injuries, absenteeism affecting work and deliveries to customers and many other such problems are a reason of concern to the organization at some point of time. These issues result in low worker satisfaction or motivation and may impact deliveries to customers resulting in lower customer satisfaction. It is significant for an organization to keep a track of all such cases. To do this an organization needs to monitor, measure, analyze and evaluate processes to confirm that these are effective, adequate and suitable.

Measurement and Monitoring Requirements

Measurement and monitoring requirements should be absolute on the basis of risk and criticality of the process. The measurements should be in line with OH&S objectives recognized for the organization. The measurement and monitoring requirements should reflect requirements of the standard, legal requirements and other requirements.

• Observation of health of employees, work environment monitoring.
• Development on policy declarations, objective achievement, and constant improvement.
• Ability levels of the workers.
• Gaps in obedience with legal requirements, if any.
• Standards and Codes.
• Insurance Necessities.

Once organization have identified measurement and monitoring requirements, organization need to establish systems to collect and combine these measures. To do this, organization want to describe criteria to compare these measurements. These criteria could be against industry benchmarks or organization’s own codes and objectives. Establish measurement devices or tools that would be essential to take these measurements. Along with procedures to collect and merging, establish methods to check that the results of measurements are valid.

Analysis and Evaluation

Analysis is the procedure of investigating data to determine relationships and trends. Organization may use several statistical tools like Pareto analysis, fish-bone analysis, 5-why analysis, etc. to draw a conclusion from data. Evaluation is done to confirm adequacy, suitability and effectiveness of health and safety necessities. This activity is most frequently related to monitoring activities. Occupational health complaints, work environment monitoring and health observation of workers are some of the elements that need to be monitored in an organization.

The results of analysis and evaluation shall be used to take actions to remove root causes which are the reason for negative feedback or measurement going beyond the targets established. Present the trend analysis in Management review meetings and identify the requirement for improvements within the OH&S management system through evaluation of these procedures.

To understand the Occupational Health and Safety Management System and its requirements, ISO 45001:2015 OHSAS awareness training will provide an overview of the OHSAS requirements based on ISO 45001:2018. This ISO 45001 Awareness Training helps employees to reduce the risk of employee’s health safety and improvement effectiveness of an Occupational Health and Safety Management System, and also helps to understand the requirements of ISO 14001:2015 and hazards risk identification.

What are the Requirements of ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System?

ISO 45001 is the international standard for occupational health and safety, delivered to guard employees and visitors from work-related accidents and sicknesses. ISO 45001 certification was established to mitigate any factors that can reason employees and businesses permanent harm. ISO 45001 standards are the result of great effort by a group of health and safety management experts who looked closely at a number of other methods to system management – including ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. In addition, ISO 45001 was designed to take other existing occupational health and safety standards, such as OHSAS 18001.

Specially geared toward senior management, ISO 45001 has the ultimate goal of helping businesses deliver a healthy and safe working environment for their employees and everybody else who visits the workplace. This goal can be accomplished by controlling factors that could possibly lead to injury, illness and – in risky situations – even death. As a result, ISO 45001 is concerned with mitigating any factors that are injurious or that position a danger to workers’ physical and mental well-being.

Sadly, thousands of workers lose their lives each day to preventable occurrences of adverse workplace circumstances. In fact, according to the ISO and International Labour Organization ILO more than 2.7 million deaths happen globally due to occupational accidents, and in adding to that there are 374 million non-fatal injuries each year, resulting in 4 or more days absences from work.

According to many health and safety specialists including the professionals who worked on the ISO committee – ISO 45001 represents a landmark breakthrough. For the first time internationally, businesses of all sizes can now access a single framework that proposals them a clear pathway to developing well and more healthy occupational health and safety measures.

Requirements of ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System:

• Context of the organization:

This section needs the organization to control its context in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Management System, with interested parties and their requirements and expectations. It also defines requirements for determining the scope of the OH&SMS, as well as general OH&SMS requirements.

• Leadership:

This clause of the standard requires top management to prove leadership and commitment to the OH&SMS, along with defining the occupational health & safety policy. The top management must also allocate process owners with other roles and responsibilities.

• Planning:

The planning section describes requirements for addressing risks and opportunities, and the necessities for occupational risk analysis. This clause also contains requirements for hazard identification and assessment, determining legal and other requirements, OH&S objectives and plans for accomplishing.

• Support:

This clause defines requirements for supporting processes and provisions of resources essential for effective operation of the OH&SMS. It describes requirements for people, infrastructure, work environment, monitoring and measure resources, competence, awareness, communication and documented information.

• Operation:

This clause is focused on establishing operational controls to remove the occupational health and safety hazards, management of changes and emergency preparedness and response.

• Performance evaluation:

The purpose of the requirements placed in this clause is to deliver the organization with mechanisms to control the efficiency of the QMS. It covers requirements for essential monitoring and measuring, including performance evaluation, compliance obligation, internal audit and management review.

• Improvement:

The last section of the standard describes requirements for constant improvement of the OH&SMS, including requirements for managing nonconformities, incidents and corrective actions.

These sections are based on a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, which uses these fundamentals to implement change within the processes of the organization in order to drive and maintain developments within the processes. ISO 45001 documents to help in formatting quick documentation that compatible with ISO 45001 standard requirements. The ISO 45001 documents should cover manual, necessary policies, procedures, SOPs and audit checklist to control documents for organizations. Many organizations and ISO 45001 consultants are using ready documentation kits available to minimizes the time and cost involved in certification as well as better control over the implemented Occupational health and safety management system.

How to identify ISO 45001 hazards, risks, and opportunities?

ISO 45001:2018 specifies necessities for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system, and gives direction for its use, to allow organizations to provide safe and healthy workplaces by stopping work-related injury and disease, as well as by proactively improving its OH&S performance. ISO 45001 Lead Auditor Training is applicable to any organization that wishes to correctly interpret ISO 45001:2018 requirements and then plan, conduct and close an audit of environmental management system based on ISO 45001:2018. Also establish, implement and maintain an OH&S management system to improve occupational health and safety, remove hazards and minimize OH&S risks, take benefit of OH&S opportunities, and address OH&S management system nonconformities related with its activities.

ISO 45001:2018 is appropriate to any organization regardless of its size, type and activities. It is applicable to the OH&S risks under the organization’s control, taking into account factors such as the situation in which the organization operates and the needs and expectations of its workers and other interested parties.

What is hazard identification?

ISO 45001 starts with some general information in clause 6.1.1 on considering internal and external problems, relevant interested parties, and the scope of OH&S management system during this risk assessment process. Next, clause 6.1.2.1 needs the identification of hazards in the management system. What this entails to look at each process and identify the threats that are present that could cause injury or ill health in workers. Considerations contain not only the routine activities that do, but also emergencies that could happen, planned changes, non-routine activities such as maintenance, and human factors that pose a danger in the process. Once have identified of all hazards, then proceed to the next step for assessment of risks.

What are risk and opportunity in ISO 45001?

After the assessment of hazards, clause 6.1.2.2 asks that classify the OH&S risks and other risks for the health and safety management system. The OH&S risks are the risks that are directly related with hazards—for instance, one hazard of a machine with a sharp corner is that a person may cut themselves. Along with these OH&S risks, also classify other risks that could affect management system, but that are not directly linked to hazards—for instance, if a supplier is stopping production of a safe cleaning chemical and need to identify a new replacement chemical.

clause 6.1.2.3 needs that identify OH&S opportunities and other opportunities for the OH&S management system. OH&S opportunities are those directly related to enhancing OH&S performance, such as adjusting the way work is done to prevent injury, or removing hazards in the workplace. Other opportunities are those top-level prospects that can affect the complete system, but that are not directly related to hazards, such as recognizing a new technology that can improve workplace safety or a supplier developing a safer material to replace one currently use.

How to identify risks and opportunities?

OH&S risks and opportunities as defined above are identified by evaluating identified hazards and determining what threats are posed by them, or if anything can be done to change work to make it safer. A team of people who understand the process in question, and the hazards that are present in the process, can find the negative outcomes that could occur and the opportunities for positive change to make the process safer.

Other risks and opportunities for the OHSMS, however, are typically recognized in top management strategic planning activities. It is at this level that larger-scale threats and proposed changes can be well assessed. Many corporations will use a tool called a SWOT analysis, which looks at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that can affect the organization so that these can be systematically reviewed, and a conclusion made if action is needed.

What are the typical risks and opportunities to address in an OHSMS?

Risk assessment will be different at different organizations. Typical OH&S risks and opportunities will different from company-to-company dependent on which hazards are present. While many corporations will have hazards such as items to trip over, sharp corners, or pinch points on machinery, other hazards such as those presented by chemicals will have very different risks from one company to another dependent on what chemical is used.

Other risks and opportunities for the OH&S management system will also be different to each organization, but there are some typical points of origin for these types of risks and opportunities. Changes in dealers’ products, new or changing technology, or shifting of knowledge about processes and hazards are some of the typical sources of other risks and opportunities.

What are the Benefits of Implementing ISO 45001 Certification?

ISO 45001 is the world’s international standard for occupational health and safety, delivered to guard employees and visitors from work-related accidents and illnesses. ISO 45001 certification was established to mitigate any factors that can reason employees and businesses permanent harm.

Specially geared toward senior management, ISO 45001 has the eventual goal of helping businesses provide a healthy and safe working environment for their employees and everyone else who visits the workplace. This goal can be accomplished by controlling factors that could potentially lead to injury, disease and — in extreme situations — even death. As a result, ISO 45001 is concerned with mitigating any factors that are harmful or that pose a danger to workers’ physical and mental well-being.

According to many health and safety experts — including the professionals who worked on the ISO committee — ISO 45001 represents a landmark innovation. For the first time internationally, businesses of all sizes can now access a single framework that offers them a clear path to developing better and more strong occupational health and safety measures.

What is the Significance of getting Certified to ISO 45001?

ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS) certification can be accessible in a way that displays organization’s assurance to providing a workplace where the risk of illness or injury to workers, community or customers is eliminated or minimalized.

Benefits of Implementation:

The standard delivers a systematic approach for senior leadership to assess OH&S risk and opportunities, monitor and analysis safety performance and set objectives for continual improvement within the ‘context’ of organizational activities. This may include, for example, worker health promotion operations or the monitoring of the OH&S effects of products and services provided. With or without a formal OH&S management system, organizations have a moral and legal responsibility to protect workers from accidents and ill health.

Implementation is a protest and commitment from senior leadership to internal and external stakeholders of the committed to protect workers from accidents including short- and long-term ill health effects. Of course, this may in-turn decrease downtime, lead to reduction of worker loss time hours and potential prosecution. This commitment also provides assurances to the Board of Directors, Trustees or owners that management controls regarding OH&S risks inherent within the organization.

The standard encourages worker participation when identifying hazards, elimination or reducing risk by implementation of controls integrated with other business process. ISO 45001 Lead Implementer Training can improve safety culture, minimize risk and embed best practice resulting in increased productivity.

• Improves hazard identification and risk assessment.
• Decreases downtime, overall costs of incidents at the workplace and the number of insurance premiums claimed.
• Improves the involvement of leadership and participation from workers.

How will Organizations Benefit from the Certification?

One of the significant business benefits of ISO 45001 certification includes supporting firm with the help of a systematically structured guide that will improve your organization’s performance. The goal of running ISO audits is to find non-compliances and seek to improve the insufficiencies, with the ultimate goal of providing organization with better performance and creative results.

What competences should an ISO 45001 internal auditor have?

One of the fundamental components of any ISO 45001-certified OHSMS is the function of the  ISO 45001 Auditor Training. As a mandatory part of the ISO 45001 standard itself, the internal audit is essential for checking your system’s performance and compliance. It is also an excellent tool to ensure continual improvement through identification of gaps and areas where performance could be adjusted for the better. It therefore stands to reason that to maximize the benefits of the internal audit function, you must have the correct internal auditor in place, and that person should have a unique and defined skillset.

What skills must an OHSMS auditor possess?

After deciding whether qualifications are necessary or not, it is wise to build up a profile of the person you need to become your OHSMS auditor Training. There are several ways of doing this, but perhaps the most effective is building a “job specification” type of document that can match the requirements of the audit in line with the ISO 45001 standard. After doing this, you can then more easily match the skills of the individual you are considering for the position or task of internal auditor. Here are key competences you should look for:

• Good knowledge of the ISO 45001 standard: This seems obvious, but unless the person being considered for the task has good knowledge of the standard, it is highly unlikely that he/she will be suitable. In other words, a person with little experience with OH&S in the workplace may not make the best OHSMS auditor.
• An understanding of the company structure and procedures: While not strictly necessary – for example, the external auditor will not have this knowledge – good insight into the way your organization works will help your auditor understand the processes, people, and the risks and opportunities that arise from your organization’s activities.
• A solid understanding of risk: Risk is the key factor in any OHSMS, and an effective auditor will have a keen eye for identifying the main risk points within a business.
• A methodical way of thinking: Your auditor should be able to think logically and methodically. Without this ability, you may find gaps in your audits, leading to non-conformances for your organization when it comes time for your certification audit, and daily risks to your employees.
• Good evaluation skills: Collecting findings accurately and methodically is vital, but evaluating these correctly and formulating actions is equally important. An auditor with the ability to do this will be of great value to your organization.
• Good written skills: As internal audit recording is mandatory and critical. It is also easy to imagine that the better the structure and content of an internal audit report, the more advantageous the outcome will be for your OHSMS and employees.
• Excellent knowledge of root cause and corrective action processes: Having an auditor with this key skill is vita. The ability to analyse root cause, suggest an effective corrective action, and the intelligence to recognize if reoccurrence is likely, possible, or unlikely.

How to perform awareness training in ISO 45001

In ISO 45001 Awareness Training, as with all management system standards, it is critical to ensure that your employees are trained and aware of what they need to do to support the occupational health and safety management system. In earlier post we discussed what ISO 45001 documents to be required and how you can use this as a way to drive your Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) management system, employee feedback, and continual improvement. Here, I will look at two more aspects of awareness training: how to train and what to train.

The ISO 45001 Awareness and Auditor Training Presentation Kit is helpful for companies who want to conduct in-house awareness and certified internal auditor course for OH&S management system.

What OH&S management system awareness training is needed?

In essence, you need to provide the ISO 45001 awareness training necessary for an employee to safely perform the tasks that are required to do the assigned job, and you must define this training for each job in your company. What the OH&S policy and objectives are that affect their job. This means knowing what they do that affects the ability of the company to meet the policy and objectives.

• Their contribution to the OH&S management system. Employees must know their policies and procedures for OH&S and understand how following these requirements keeps them safe. This also includes the benefits of an improved OH&S performance in the workplace.
• Potential consequences of departing from procedures and not conforming to the OH&S management system requirements: It is not enough that employees know that a procedure exists, but they need to know what will happen if it is not followed. Compliance with a procedure will then make sense to the employee.
• Relevant past incidents: If an incident occurred that could affect how the employee does their job, it is expected that they will understand what happened and the outcomes of the investigation.
• OH&S hazards and risks relevant to their jobs: This is where you need to make employees knowledgeable of the hazards and risks associated with their jobs and how their behavior impacts these hazards and risks. Employees must know what they must do in their jobs when it comes to health & safety. Not knowing the risks is one of the greatest problems, and is how tragedy occurs.
• The ability to remove themselves from unsafe situations: Employees must know that it is acceptable to stop working when it is not safe to do so. If their health & safety is in imminent danger they need to understand how they can stop and have this corrected.