Management system guidance
10.0 Improvement
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10.1 General
ISO 45001 clause 10.1 requires your organization to determine opportunities for improvement, drawing on the results of performance evaluation in Clause 9, and to implement the actions needed to achieve the intended outcomes of its OH&S management system. Those intended outcomes, set out in the introduction and scope of ISO 45001, are to prevent work-related injury and ill health, to provide safe and healthy workplaces, and to keep improving OH&S performance.
Where improvement opportunities come from
ISO 45001 advises that your organization should consider the results of the following when taking action to improve:
- Analysis and evaluation of OH&S performance (9.1.1) – for example incident trends, inspection findings, exposure monitoring and health surveillance results;
- Evaluation of compliance with legal requirements and other requirements (9.1.2);
- Internal audits (9.2);
- Management review (9.3).
Other valuable sources include incident and near-miss investigations, hazard reports and suggestions from workers, safety committee discussions, contractor feedback, and lessons learned from emergency exercises (8.2).
Types of improvement
Improvement does not have to happen in small, continuous steps. Annex A gives examples including:
- Corrective action – reacting to incidents and nonconformities to remove their causes (see 10.2);
- Continual improvement – recurring activity to enhance OH&S performance over time (see 10.3);
- Breakthrough change – a step change, such as eliminating a hazardous process altogether;
- Innovation – for example new technology that removes workers from danger, such as remote-controlled equipment or automated handling;
- Re-organization – changing structures, shift patterns or work allocation to reduce OH&S risks such as fatigue.
Implementing improvement actions
When selecting and implementing improvement actions, your organization should:
- Prioritize opportunities according to the OH&S risks and opportunities they address (see 6.1.2);
- Apply the hierarchy of controls so that actions favor eliminating hazards over less effective measures (see 8.1.2);
- Manage any resulting changes in a planned way (see 8.1.3), assessing any new hazards before the change is made;
- Involve workers in identifying and implementing improvements (see 5.4);
- Assign responsibilities, resources and timescales, and track actions to completion;
- Check that the actions have delivered the expected results.
Improvement is not a separate activity bolted onto the OH&S management system – it is the “Act” stage of the PDCA cycle, closing the loop between performance evaluation and planning. Improvement actions may lead to revised OH&S objectives (6.2.1), updated risk assessments, new or changed procedures, or additional training.
You should seek and record evidence that your organization uses the results of performance evaluation, compliance evaluation, internal audit and management review to identify opportunities for improvement; that it has selected and implemented actions to achieve the intended outcomes of the OH&S management system; and that workers have been involved in the process.
More information on PDCA
Planning
Context
Planning
Support
Doing
Support
Operations
Checking
Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation
Acting
Improvement
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