ISO 45001 has been around for five years. Quite a lot has happened in that time. Organizations that didn’t make the initial push have all the reason to do so now. The remaining question, though, is how to implement the standard expeditiously?
The answer is digital software. So, read on to learn how digital technology can help implement ISO 45001.
About ISO 45001: 2018
The world’s first international standard to deal exclusively with work health and safety, ISO 45001: 2018 represented a landmark in the space when it came out in 2018. Why exactly?
Well, for one, ISO 45001 replaced pre-existing national health and safety standards and proprietary certifications. The most popular of those standards was the then-internationally applied British standard, OHSAS 18001, from which ISO 45001 was principally derived.
Of course, ISO 45001 is its own standard.
Unlike others, it tasks senior management, not the rank-and-file, with taking a leading role in implementing safety management best practices.
That matters because getting business leaders to take the central role in encouraging a positive occupational health and safety culture serves to embed safety prerogatives in the fabric of wider business practices. Which, in turn, makes safety crucial to running a sustainable business.
What’s more, ISO 45001 also provides a proactive and strategic emphasis on risk (not just a reactive approach to hazards). Here, risk is understood in the wider context of the safety management system, including outsourced tasks.
And anticipating COVID and other emergencies impinging on work health and safety, ISO 45001 also mandates that safety professionals take a far more active part in all stages of the emergency management lifecycle (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery).
The standard, here, broadens the number of (internal and external) stakeholders who must be consulted. And that requirement holds in emergency situations, as well. For instance, emergency response agencies and the local community must be consulted as well as internal stakeholders.
The role of digital technology in implementing ISO 45001
So, for those organizations who haven’t already, how do they leverage digital safety management software to implement ISO 45001 faster and recoup business benefits?
Well, integrated digital technologies give companies looking to implement ISO 45001 access to the emergency management capabilities needed to anticipate, prevent, or minimize emergency risk. Those capabilities include:
- Identify and plan for potential emergency situations
- Integrate emergency exercises into your system
- Prepare a planned response to emergency situations, such as pandemics, bomb threats, terrorist attacks, active shooter incidents, or natural disasters
- Periodically test and exercise emergency response capabilities
- Evaluate and revise emergency preparedness measures, especially after the occurrence of emergency situations
- Provide relevant information to all members of the organizations regarding their duties and responsibilities during an emergency event
- Facilitate emergency prevention, preparedness, and response training
- Communicate information to contractors, visitors, relevant emergency response services, government authorities, and the local community
Of course, there’s far more to safety management technology than the integrated emergency management capabilities that help facilitate ISO 45001 compliance. What are the unique safety management capabilities that can help, as well? Download our Buyer’s Guide to Safety Management Software to find out.
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