ISO 45001 Navigator Pro™
Health and safety management system guidance
ISO Navigator Pro™ management system guidance uses simple menus to help you navigate and interpret the diverse requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 via your internet browser.
The ISO 45001 pages explain the requirements of the current edition, ISO 45001:2018 incorporating Amendment 1:2024. The amendment adds climate action to clause 4: organizations must determine whether climate change is a relevant issue, and a note confirms that relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change. For guidance on quality and environmental management, see the ISO 9001 Navigator Pro and ISO 14001 Navigator Pro.
A revised edition of ISO 45001 is currently at Draft International Standard (DIS) stage, with publication expected in 2027. Until it is published, ISO 45001:2018 + Amd 1:2024 remains the standard for certification, and these pages will be updated when the new edition is released.
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The ISO Navigator management system guidance is divided into sequential stages; Planning, Doing, Checking, and Acting. Click the links below to begin:
- Plan - Organizational context
- Plan - Leadership
- Plan - Management system
- Do - Support
- Do - Operations
- Check - Monitoring, measuring, analysing and evaluating
- Act - Implementing improvement actions
More information on PDCA
Each stage is linked to the relevant, underlying ISO 45001 clauses to explain them in plain English with plenty of practical examples.
Planning
4.0 Organizational context
This is the 'Plan' part of the PDCA process. Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with the OH&S policy: preventing work-related injury and ill health and providing safe and healthy workplaces. Start by understanding the context in which your organization operates and the needs and expectations of workers and other interested parties.
- Identify external and internal issues relevant to the organization's purpose that affect its ability to achieve the intended outcomes of its OH&S management system, including whether climate change is a relevant issue. Monitor and review these issues for change.
- Identify workers and other relevant interested parties, their needs and expectations, and which of these are, or could become, legal requirements and other requirements. Monitor and review them for change.
- Base the scope of the OH&S management system on the external and internal issues - 4.1, the requirements of interested parties - 4.2, and the planned or performed work-related activities. The scope must be available as documented information.
- Establish, implement, maintain and continually improve the OH&S management system, including the processes needed and their interactions.
ISO 45001:2018 |
| 3 Terms & Definitions |
| 4.1 Understanding Context |
| 4.2 Workers & Interested Parties |
| 4.3 Determining Scope |
| 4.4 OH&S Management System |
5.0 Leadership and worker participation
Make sure you have Top management’s commitment before continuing the implementation project. Be sure that Top management are solidly behind implementation of the management system because without that commitment, the implementation process becomes almost impossible.
- Demonstrate leadership by taking overall responsibility and accountability for preventing work-related injury and ill health, and by developing, leading and promoting a culture that supports the OH&S management system.
- Establish an OH&S policy that includes commitments to safe and healthy working conditions, fulfilling legal requirements and other requirements, eliminating hazards and reducing OH&S risks, continual improvement, and consultation and participation of workers.
- Assign and communicate responsibilities and authorities for relevant roles; workers at each level take responsibility for the aspects of the OH&S management system over which they have control.
- Consult workers and enable their participation, emphasizing the involvement of non-managerial workers in hazard identification, risk assessment, determining controls and investigating incidents.
ISO 45001:2018 |
| 5.1 Leadership & Commitment |
| 5.2 OH&S Policy |
| 5.3 Roles, Responsibilities & Authorities |
| 5.4 Consultation & Participation |
6.0 OH&S management system planning
ISO 45001 requires ongoing, proactive processes for hazard identification and for assessing OH&S risks and opportunities, and documented information must be maintained on risks and opportunities and on the processes and actions needed to address them. Confirm that your organization has a methodology in place that enables it to identify hazards and evaluate risks and opportunities when planning its OH&S management system.
- Determine risks and opportunities relevant to your organization's context 4.1, the needs of workers and other interested parties 4.2, and the scope of the OH&S management system 4.3.
- Identify hazards, assess OH&S risks and opportunities, and determine the legal requirements and other requirements that apply to your hazards and OH&S risks.
- Establish OH&S objectives at relevant functions and levels, and plan the actions, resources, responsibilities and timescales needed to achieve them.
Doing
7.0 Support
This is the 'Do' part of the PDCA process. Ensure the availability of resources and information necessary to support the operation and monitoring of your OH&S processes. This may be through management review or other methods that define resource requirements.
- Determine and provide the resources needed to establish, implement, maintain and continually improve the OH&S management system.
- Determine the competence workers need, including the ability to identify hazards, and ensure workers are competent through education, training or experience.
- Make workers aware of the OH&S policy and objectives, hazards and risks relevant to them, incidents and investigation outcomes, and their ability to remove themselves from imminent and serious danger.
- Establish processes for internal and external OH&S communication, taking diversity aspects such as language and literacy into account.
- Create, update and control the documented information required by ISO 45001 and determined necessary for the effectiveness of the OH&S management system.
ISO 45001:2018 |
| 7.1 Resources |
| 7.2 Competence |
| 7.3 Awareness |
| 7.4.1 Communication - General |
| 7.4.2 Internal Communication |
| 7.4.3 External Communication |
| 7.5 Documented Information |
8.0 Operations
For the hazards, risks and opportunities that your organization has identified, you should seek evidence that the planned actions have been integrated into operational processes; these actions should be verifiable at process level – for example, evidence of operating criteria, controls applied using the hierarchy of controls, and the resources to apply them.
- Plan, implement, control and maintain the processes needed to meet OH&S management system requirements, establishing operating criteria and adapting work to workers.
- Eliminate hazards and reduce OH&S risks using the hierarchy of controls: elimination, substitution, engineering controls and reorganization of work, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment.
- Implement a process for planned temporary and permanent changes that affect OH&S performance, and review the consequences of unintended changes.
- Control procurement of products and services, coordinate with contractors, and ensure outsourced functions and processes are controlled.
- Plan and periodically test responses to potential emergency situations, provide training and first aid, and communicate relevant information to workers, contractors, visitors and emergency services. Maintain and retain documented information on the process and plans.
ISO 45001:2018 |
| 8.1.1 Operational Planning - General |
| 8.1.2 Eliminating Hazards & Reducing Risks |
| 8.1.3 Management of Change |
| 8.1.4 Procurement |
| 8.2 Emergency Preparedness & Response |
Checking
9.0 Monitoring, measuring, analysing and evaluating
This is the 'Check' part of the PDCA process. Monitor, measure and analyse process performance. Monitor and measure OH&S performance against the OH&S policy, objectives, legal requirements and other requirements, and report the results. The methods employed and the timing of such analysis should be based upon priorities established by the organization.
- Establish a process for monitoring, measurement, analysis and performance evaluation, and evaluate compliance with legal requirements and other requirements.
- Implement an internal audit programme, consult workers on it, and report relevant audit results to workers and their representatives.
- Conduct management reviews at planned intervals to ensure the continuing suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the OH&S management system, and communicate relevant outputs to workers.
ISO 45001:2018 |
| 9.1.1 Monitoring & Measurement |
| 9.1.2 Evaluation of Compliance |
| 9.2 Internal Audit |
| 9.3 Management Review |
Acting
10.0 Implementing improvement actions
This is the 'Act' part of the PDCA process. Implement the actions necessary to achieve the planned results, and for the continual improvement of those processes. Auditors will expect to see evidence that incidents and nonconformities are investigated and that corrective action is taken when OH&S objectives and performance indicators fall below target or a pre-defined action level.
- Determine opportunities for improvement from performance evaluation and implement the actions needed to achieve the intended outcomes of the OH&S management system.
- Report, investigate and act on incidents and nonconformities with the participation of workers; retain documented information on their nature, the actions taken and the effectiveness of corrective action.
- Use the results of monitoring and measurement (9.1), internal audit (9.2) and management review (9.3) to drive continual improvement, promoting worker participation and a supportive OH&S culture.
ISO 45001:2018 |
| 10.1 Improvement - General |
| 10.2 Incident, Nonconformity & Corrective Action |
| 10.3 Continual Improvement |
How to apply the latest quality management principles
The latest and current quality management principles (QMPs), stated in ISO 9000:2026, are intended to provide the foundation by which any organization can continually improve its performance.
You can learn to apply the latest quality management principles in the context of your business's own particular operations by reviewing and documenting its activities in the context of each quality management principle.
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ISO Navigator™ is our FREE online training tool that shows you how to apply the principles of PDCA to your operations. We also offer many helpful templates that get you on the road to documenting your management system, please visit the download page.