Health and Safety management: new challenges to come from standard change

How can responsible employers demonstrate that employee welfare is top of their business priorities?

International Health and Safety Management standard ISO 45001 is on target for introduction into the UK at the end of the year. With significant new responsibilities for senior management, the new framework set out within the standard aims to improve employee safety, reduce risk and create overall safer working conditions.

Putting more emphasis on ‘human factors’, the new standard will require a commitment from senior management to proactively demonstrate health and safety leadership by creating an environment of continuous improvement.

The question posed by the standard to many business owners is this: how can responsible employers demonstrate that employee welfare is at the top of their business priorities?

The answer? By ensuring they are ISO 45001 compliant.

The ISO 45001 checklist

Can your organisation demonstrate the following?

• Occupational health and safety is integrated into your business process and considered in strategic plans
• Top management plays an active role in the occupational health and safety management system
• The importance of effective health and safety management is communicated throughout your business
• The workforce is provided with the direction and support to enable them to contribute to the effectiveness of the occupational health and safety management system
• You have taken into account the wider context that you operate in as well as your sub-contractors and suppliers in the way they control and manage health and safety

If you’ve answered yes to all of the above then congratulations! Compliance should be a straight forward procedure.

However, while every responsible company will try to demonstrate the above points, if that were the case the world over, then workplace accidents and deaths would be at zero.

Clearly then, there is a need for an honest assessment of workplace health and safety.

By assessing the current health and safety capabilities of your organisation honestly and setting clear benchmarks on how to improve, you can quickly tick off the above checklist with confidence.