How to get started with an occupational health and safety management system
An effective occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system helps to reduce risk and improve working conditions for everyone in an organization.
However, it can be harder for organizational leaders to grasp the importance of tackling less tangible threats to health, such as noise and stress, as well as more obvious ones, like trailing cables.
Here’s how your organization can find its own route into improving OH&S, starting with why it matters in the first place.
Why does occupational health and safety matter?
In 2022/23, there were 1.8 million workers in the UK suffering from work-related ill health. For example, an estimated 12,000 lung disease deaths each year are linked to past exposures at work. We might think of work-related conditions as involving physical injury, for example through trip hazards or toxic chemicals. However, 875,000 workers suffer work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
The international standard BS EN ISO 45001:2023+A1:2024 Occupational health and safety management systems. Requirements with guidance for use helps organizations improve employee safety, reduce workplace risks and create better working conditions.
Interpreting and implementing BS EN ISO 45001
Other guidance published by BSI provides assistance in implementing BS EN ISO 45001 within a UK organization.
BS 45002-1:2018 Occupational health and safety management systems. General guidelines for the application of ISO 45001 – Guidance on managing occupational health; and
BS 45002-3:2018 Occupational health and safety management systems. General guidelines for the application of ISO 45001 – Guidance on incident investigation
These documents use the same terminology and approach as BS EN ISO 45001, aiming for plain English and a user-friendly structure. They have been kept relatively brief, at around 12 pages.
If this is your first time implementing a standard, discover our guidance video below for an overview of the process and expert tips.
A tailored OH&S solution for your organization
BS 45002-1 and BS 45002-3 are not dogmatic in approach: you won't find a list of required actions. They encourage a context-based approach, looking at the organization's current position and working on a plan for moving forward that suits its individual needs.
The guidance functions like a series of stepping stones for businesses to find the most useful parts of the ISO standard, potentially leading to full certification. The organization identifies risks and opportunities and uses these to develop OH&S objectives and plans.
Your organization’s key priorities will be determined by its characteristics. This might include the nature of the activity, e.g. an industrial process involving hazardous substances, or a trade that involves workers traveling a lot.
Your employee profile is important too, as different approaches will be needed to safeguard health depending on factors like age and disability. Some employees will have more complex needs than others.
Will we need external support to establish an occupational health and safety management system?
A common concern is that OH&S will involve you in a lot of expensive consultants.
This is far from the case. For most small or medium organizations, the risks will be easy to understand and manage internally. The guidance emphasizes the importance of a proportionate response so the resource committed matches the scale of the problem.
Only in cases involving a large organization or complex needs will an outside expert be required. For those who are new to OH&S, it can be challenging to work out what type of expert is required, so BS 45002-1 includes an annex setting out key job roles.
Managing workplace incidents
If an incident occurs, the priority should be making the environment safe and helping any injured people. But sometimes concerns about documenting what happened can get in the way.
The guidance to BS EN ISO 45001 helps organizations plan for these situations, working through the steps they would take, such as calling emergency services, assessing risks, and securing the incident scene. There should be a prepared matrix setting out whom to call if an employee is involved in an incident, such as emergency services, next of kin and regulators.
Creating a culture of workplace safety
The focus is on worker engagement and cultural change, moving away from a system whereby people worry about blame towards one in which the organization anticipates risks, reduces their likelihood and is fully prepared for dealing with incidents.
There is also help for communicating findings clearly and establishing ways to put changes into action safely and with input from employees. Trend analysis is emphasized, looking at issues such as incident frequency, severity and location. Through careful analysis, businesses can often detect underlying issues that contributed to an incident, which may be harder to spot than the immediate cause.
Other health and safety standards
At BSI, we have a large collection of standards that can support your establishment and maintenance of an effective occupational health and safety management system, as well as that provide guidance on specific elements of workplace safety.
Some of these others include:
PD ISO 45001:2018 Handbook. Occupational health and safety management systems. A practical guide for SMEs
BS ISO 45003:2021 Occupational health and safety management. Psychological health and safety at work. Guidelines for managing psychosocial risks
BS ISO 45004:2024 Occupational health and safety management. Guidelines on performance evaluation
BS ISO 45006:2023 Occupational health and safety management. Guidelines for organizations on preventing, controlling and managing infectious diseases
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