Health & safety
ISO 45001 — Occupational Health and Safety Management
Published Reviewed
What is ISO 45001?
ISO 45001 specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety management system covering hazards, worker participation, operational controls and continual improvement.
| Jurisdiction | International standard |
|---|---|
| Authority | ISO 45001:2018 |
| Current status | Current published edition: 2018 |
| Reviewed |
Why it matters operationally
ISO 45001 is the international benchmark for managing worker safety as a system rather than a poster: hazard identification, hierarchy of controls, worker participation and incident learning, all auditable. It replaced OHSAS 18001, which was withdrawn in 2021 — a certificate citing OHSAS is no longer a certification. Beyond audits, it is how organisations demonstrate the duty of care that national workplace-safety law, customers and increasingly ESG due-diligence frameworks demand.
Are you aware?
The dates that bind
OHSAS 18001 is gone
The migration period ended and OHSAS 18001 was withdrawn. Any supplier still presenting an OHSAS certificate is presenting an expired scheme.
Climate considerations reached safety management too
The 2024 amendment to ISO management standards adds climate change as a required contextual consideration — heat stress, extreme weather and changing work environments are legitimate audit questions.
Where to start
- 1
Run hazard identification across routine and non-routine work, and apply the hierarchy of controls — elimination before PPE, always.
- 2
Make worker participation real and visible: consultation records, reporting channels without reprisal, and worker input in risk decisions.
- 3
Keep the legal register of workplace-safety obligations current, with compliance evaluated on a schedule.
Authority links
Read the official sources
The official text is the authority. This guide is only a short orientation for operational planning.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
How does ISO 45001 relate to national safety law?
It does not replace it — national law always applies. The standard requires you to identify and comply with those legal requirements, and gives you the management machinery to evidence that compliance systematically.
What changed from OHSAS 18001?
ISO 45001 follows the common ISO high-level structure, elevates leadership accountability and worker participation, and treats risk proactively rather than reactively. It integrates cleanly with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in one system.
What do auditors focus on?
Whether the top hazards you identified carry real controls in the order the hierarchy demands, whether incidents lead to cause analysis and change, and whether workers demonstrably participate rather than merely receive policy.
Key terms in this guide
A quick self-check
Are you ready?
- Could you show the control — and its place in the hierarchy — for each of your five most serious hazards?
- Do incident investigations end in cause analysis and changed controls, or in blame and closure?
- When did a worker representative last influence a risk decision, on record?
Every question above has a written, evidence-backed answer in a well-run compliance record. If one made you pause, that pause is the gap.