Management System Certification

ISO 45001 – Occupational Health & Safety Management System

Fewer incidents, provable diligence, and a workforce that trusts the system.

  • ISO 45001
  • Recognised internationally
  • Frequently certified

About ISO 45001

What is ISO 45001?

ISO 45001:2018 is the international standard for an Occupational Health and Safety Management System. It replaced OHSAS 18001 and differs from it in an important way: where OHSAS focused on hazard control, ISO 45001 puts leadership accountability and genuine worker participation at the centre of the system.

The standard requires you to identify hazards, assess OH&S risks and opportunities, apply the hierarchy of controls — eliminate, substitute, engineer, administer, then PPE, in that order — and manage change before it introduces new risk. It extends explicitly to contractors, outsourced processes and procurement, which closes the gap that has historically caused a large share of serious site incidents.

Worker participation is not a soft requirement. The standard obliges top management to consult non-managerial workers on hazard identification, incident investigation and the OH&S policy itself, and to remove barriers to participation — including fear of reprisal. Auditors test this by talking to shop-floor workers, not only to the safety officer.

Who needs this?

  • Manufacturing, construction and infrastructure organisations with significant physical hazards
  • Contractors required by principal employers to hold a certified OH&S system
  • Organisations transitioning from the withdrawn OHSAS 18001 standard
  • Companies with a recent serious incident, statutory notice or rising lost-time injury rate
  • Oil, gas, chemical, power and mining operations with process safety obligations
  • Employers seeking measurable reduction in insurance premiums and absenteeism

Why organisations certify

Key benefits of ISO 45001

What certification actually returns, stated specifically rather than generically.

Credibility

Certification demonstrates that safety is a governed system with board-level ownership, not a poster on a wall.

Market Access

Principal employers, EPC contractors and international clients routinely restrict tendering to ISO 45001 certified contractors.

Risk Reduction

The hierarchy of controls and management-of-change requirements attack the root causes of serious incidents rather than their symptoms.

Operational Efficiency

Incidents cost production time, investigation effort, replacement labour and premiums. Fewer incidents is directly fewer disrupted days.

Customer Trust

A visibly safe workplace changes recruitment, retention and workforce trust — and is increasingly examined in client social audits.

Regulatory Compliance

The system provides structured evidence of due diligence under the Factories Act, BOCW Act, state safety rules and the OSH Code.

How it works

Our process for ISO 45001

Every stage has a defined purpose, a realistic duration and a stated output.

  1. 01

    Application & Quotation

    2–3 working days

    You submit an application form covering scope, headcount, sites and shift pattern. We review complexity, confirm audit-day allocation against accreditation rules and issue a fixed quotation.

  2. 02

    Contract & Audit Planning

    1 week

    On acceptance we appoint a lead auditor with verified technical competence for your sector, agree audit dates and share the audit plan in advance.

  3. 03

    Stage 1 — Readiness Review

    1 day (typical)

    A documentation and readiness assessment: scope confirmation, review of your management system documents, internal audit and management review evidence, and identification of anything that would block Stage 2.

  4. 04

    Stage 2 — Certification Audit

    2–5 days (scope dependent)

    On-site assessment of the system in operation. We sample processes, interview staff, examine records and raise findings graded as major, minor or opportunity for improvement.

  5. 05

    Corrective Action & Decision

    2–4 weeks

    You close out any nonconformities with root-cause analysis and evidence. An independent certification decision-maker — not the audit team — reviews the file and grants certification.

  6. 06

    Certificate Issue

    3–5 working days

    A three-year certificate is issued and your organisation is listed on our public certified-client directory for verification by your customers.

  7. 07

    Surveillance & Recertification

    Annual

    Surveillance audits at 12 and 24 months confirm the system remains effective. A full recertification audit is completed before the three-year expiry.

Preparation

Documents required

What we will ask to see. Having these ready before Stage 1 is the single biggest factor in a certification that runs to schedule.

  • Completed and signed application form
  • Certificate of incorporation / business registration
  • Organisation chart and scope statement
  • Management system manual or equivalent documented information
  • Documented processes, procedures and work instructions
  • Internal audit reports covering the full scope
  • Management review minutes
  • Records of corrective actions and continual improvement
  • Applicable legal and regulatory licences for your activity
  • OH&S policy including a commitment to consultation and participation of workers
  • Hazard identification and risk assessment (HIRA) records for all activities
  • Legal and other requirements register (Factories Act, BOCW, state rules)
  • Safety committee constitution and meeting minutes
  • Incident, near-miss and investigation records with root-cause analysis
  • Emergency preparedness plans, evacuation drills and first-aid records
  • Contractor safety management and induction records
  • PPE issue records and occupational health check-up reports

Not sure whether your scope is right?

Scope is the single thing most often got wrong, and it appears verbatim on your certificate. We will review yours before you apply, at no charge — it costs us less than fixing it at recertification.

Talk to a specialist

Common questions

ISO 45001 — frequently asked questions

Direct answers, including where the honest answer is inconvenient for us.

OHSAS 18001 was withdrawn in March 2021 and is no longer a valid certification. Migration requires you to add the elements ISO 45001 introduced — organisational context, interested parties, leadership accountability, worker consultation mechanisms, and OH&S risks and opportunities beyond hazard-level risk. In most cases a transition audit rather than a full initial certification is sufficient.

Yes. Clause 8.1.4 explicitly extends control to procurement, contractors and outsourced processes. Auditors will examine contractor selection criteria, induction, work permits and supervision, because that is where a large share of serious injuries occur.

Many insurers price certified OH&S systems more favourably, but this is a commercial decision by the insurer, not an automatic outcome of certification. What certification reliably gives you is the incident and control data to negotiate with.

By speaking to non-managerial workers directly, in confidence. We look for evidence that workers were consulted on hazard identification and incident investigation, that they can raise concerns without fear of reprisal, and that raised concerns were acted upon.

Question not answered here? Ask a certification specialist — we answer technical questions without requiring an enquiry first.

Talk to us

Talk to a certification expert

Tell us your scope and headcount and we will send a fixed quotation for ISO 45001 with the audit-day calculation shown.

  • Quotation within 2–3 working days
  • IAF MD 5 audit-day calculation included
  • Full three-year cycle cost, not just the first audit
  • Your details are used only to answer this enquiry

Including contractors and shift staff — this sets your audit days.

Tell us your scope, whether design is included, and any deadline you are working to.

Your details are used only to answer this enquiry. We do not sell or share them.

Next step

Ready to certify to ISO 45001?

We will scope it honestly, show you the calculation behind the price, and tell you plainly if the timeline you need is not achievable.