REQUIREMENTS OF AN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

MODULE 2

JULY 13, 2021

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 Learning Outcomes
 After completing this module you will be able to:
o List the expectations top management has in a OH&SMS.
o Describe how best to manage health and safety risks.
o Explain how support functions affect an organization's performance.
o Define what operational controls are.
o Summarize how organizations enforce operational controls.
o Discuss what an emergency response is and how organizations are
required to plan for emergency situations.

 Leadership Roles and Responsibilities

LEADERSHIP A.

What is a leadership role and how is it mandated in the ISO 45001:2018 standard?
Top management must ensure leadership roles and exhibit commitment towards the
OH&SMS by:

a) Owning responsibility and accountability for avoiding work-based injuries and

illness; provide a safe and healthy work environment and processes.
b) Making sure that the OH&S policy objectives are identified and relate to the
strategy of the company.
c) Making sure the OH&SMS integrates into the business processes of the
organization.
d) Ensuring the availability of the resources required to develop, apply, sustain and
enhance the OH&SMS.
e) Communicating the significance of the implementation of the OH&SMS and
compliance to the standard.
f) Ensuring the OH&SMS attains its intended results. <Cont. next tab>

LEADERSHIP B.

 Guiding and empowering workers to play their role in the sustenance of the
OH&SMS.

 Ensuring and encouraging continuous improvement.

 Empowering other management to prove their leadership in the areas they

lead.

 Establishing, leading and encouraging an organizational culture that assists

the desired results of the OH&SMS to succeed.

 Safeguarding workers from retaliation or reprisals, when it comes to reporting

accidents, unsafe conditions, hazards, risks and areas for improvement.

 Ensuring that the organization develops and applies processes for discussion
and the participation of workers.

 Empowering the development and operation of health and safety committees.

 OH&SMS Participation
OH&SMS POLICY
Who is responsible for establishing, implementing and maintaining the OH&SMS
policy? Top management i.e. the leadership of the organization must develop, apply
and sustain this policy, which should have the following elements:

a) A commitment to offer a safe and healthy working environment. The commitment

should ensure that work-based accidents and illnesses are avoided. The policy
should be relevant to the objectives, size and business context of the organization
and the nature of the particular health and safety risks that exist.
b) A framework for setting out the health and safety objectives.
c) A commitment to meet legal and other requirements.
d) A commitment to eliminate hazards and reduce risks.
e) A commitment to the continuous improvement of the OH&SMS.
f) A commitment to consultation and participation. The policy should encourage
discussion and the involvement of workers/bodies representing workers and
managers.

COMPONENTS

The organization's health and safety management policy should ensure the
following:

• The policy must be controlled and documented.

• It must be communicated throughout all levels of the organization.
• It should be suitable, applicable and available to all interested parties.

REPRESENTATION

Worker representation in the OH&SMS steering committee, can be a source of

participation and consultation for workers.
Hurdles and barriers to staff participation can involve the inability to address inputs
and opinions, language barriers and dangers of retaliation or reprisals for "speaking
up".

TRAINING

Delivering training to staff, can break major barriers to worker participation. The
participation of non-managerial employees can involve the following:

1. Identifying hazards and assessing risks and opportunities.

2. Identifying the procedures for consultation and participation.
3. Identify actions that can eliminate hazards and reduce health and safety risks.
4. Identify training and competence requirements and evaluate training.
5. Identify communications issues and methods.
6. Investigate incidents and non-conformities.
7. Identify control measures and their effective applications.

 Internal and External Factors

 Business Context

The business context for the OH&SMS (ISO 45001:2018, clause 4.1) involves the
following:

• Understanding the company and its business context.

• Management must identify internal and external issues that are applicable to
the OH&SMS.
• Highlight issues that have affected, or may affect, the organization's ability to
sucessfully implement the OH&SMS.

 Internal Issues
Collaboration between businesses has developed in the last two decades, with the
advancement of the internet and business without borders. Health and
 safety concerns have developed too and management has more wider-reaching
issues to consider, when planning an OH&SMS. Some internal issues include:

• The competence and diversity of the organization’s workforce.

• The commitment of workers regarding health and safety regulations.
• The readiness to collaborate with declared specifications.
• The organization’s communication channels and their significance.
 External Issues
External factors are issues that are outside an organization, but
that influence its business and operations. Some of these are summarized below:
- Legislation and regional laws.
- Economic and political situation.
- Union rules.
- National and international agencies.

Documenting the business context, for auditors and other stakeholders, with
respect to external parameters, is recommended.

 Compliance and Interests

COMPLIANCE

Compliance with applicable H&S laws and regulations, protects businesses from legal
and other financial penalties.

Moreover, the well-being of an organization’s workers is the first and foremost

objective. Making sure operations are safe, improves the quality of goods and
services that can be provided.

The latest discoveries and research with regard to contemporary illness, e.g.
recurring stress, strains and depression, demonstrates that adhering to OH&S
legislation improves performance.

INVOLVEMENT

It's important to involve the viewpoints of interested parties when formulating an

OH&SMS. Some common interested parties include:

• Employees/workers
• Management and shareholders - they are also connected to strategic business
decisions
• External providers, contractors and vendors
• Manufacturing and business partners
• Government, regulatory and legislative bodies – in many cases these have
authority over organizations
• Pressure groups, neighbors, trade unions – especially in the case of e.g. nuclear
power/chemical/hazardous facilities
• An organization’s insurers - an OH&SMS may significantly affect premiums

 Risks and Hazards

ANALYSIS

When planning the OH&SMS, management must consider the issues and
requirements from a business context, i.e. internal and external factors and those of
interested parties. This constitutes the scope of the OH&SMS.

Through the planning processes, management must identify and examine the risks
and opportunities associated with the OH&SMS and the structural changes
involved. Management must document the information concerning the processes
and measures needed to identify and address the risks and opportunities involved. A
long and short term risk and opportunities assessment must be undertaken, before
change is applied.

HAZARDS

Hazard identification is referred to in clause 6.1. Top management, or its delegated

personnel, must develop, apply and carry out pre-emptive and ongoing processes
for hazard identification.
These processes must take into account how work is managed, considering the
following factors:
Workload; Work hours; Victimization; Harassment and bullying; Leadership and
culture.

IDENTIFICATION

Hazard identification processes must also take into account hazards that arise
from routine and non-routine activities, including the following:

• Infrastructure, machinery, supplies, physical job areas

• Design of services and products, manufacturing, assembly, erection, service

distribution, maintenance, product and waste disposal

• Work methodology

 Hazard Identification and Assessment

PERSONNEL

Hazard identification and the assessment of risks and opportunities,

involves personnel in the workplace, including:

• Those with the right of entry to the workplace (employees, third-party workers,
guests)
• Those in the locality of the work area, who are affected by the work
• Employees in an area that is not under the direct administration of the company

OTHER FACTORS

Hazard identification and the assessment of risks and opportunities, involves other
factors in the workplace, including:

• The layout of work areas, practices, installations, heavy machinery, standard

operating procedures and job management
• Changes with the needs and capabilities of employees
• Changed conditions in the workplace, as a result of work-related activities
• Conditions (not controlled by management) in work areas, that can result in illness
or injury to individuals
• Actual or intended changes in organogram, jobs, processes, proceedings or the
health and safety management system
• Information and knowledge relating to any changes concerning hazards

ASSESSMENT

Assessment of health and safety risks (Clause 6.1.2.2). Management must

develop, apply and carry out processes for the following:

(a) Assess the health and safety risks from a list of hazards, while considering the
effectiveness of current controls;
(b) Identify and assess other risks related to the establishment, application,
operation and maintenance of the overall OH&SMS.
The management’s procedures and criteria for the assessment of health and safety
risks, must be defined, to ensure they are preemptive rather than responsive and
that they are utilized in a systematic way. Documented information must be
developed and retained on the assessment principles and methodology.

 Processes, Actions and the Law

 Processes :
Assessment of health and safety opportunities (6.1.2.3)

Management must develop, apply and carry out processes for the following:

 Health and safety opportunities to enhance health and safety performance,

changes to management, policies, processes or activities.
 Opportunities to upgrade work, management and the work environment for
employees.
 Opportunities to eliminate hazards and reduce health and safety risks.
 Opportunities for improving the OH&SMS.

 Legal :

Legal and other requirements (6.1.3)

Management must develop, apply and carry out processes for the following:

 Identify and subscribe to the latest legal and other requirements that are
relevant to hazards, risks and health and the OH&SMS.
 Identify how legal and other requirements apply to management and which
requirements need to be communicated to staff.
 Take legal and other requirements into account when developing, applying
and improving the OH&SMS.
 Retain documented information on legal and other issues and ensure it is
upgraded to incorporate any relevant changes.

 Actions :

Management must plan actions relating to the following:

 Risks and opportunities

 Legal and other requirements
 Prepare for and react to emergency situations
 Integrate and apply relevant counter measures to hazards and risks, through
the OH&SMS
 Assess the effectiveness of the counter measures and action plans taken

Management must take into consideration the "hierarchy of controls" (clause

8.1.2) and results from the health and safety management system, when deciding
on new actions. When planning actions, management must take into account best
practice, technological alternatives and economical, functional and business
needs.

 Objectives and Planning

OBJECTIVES

Health And Safety objectives (Clause 6.2.1)

Management must develop health and safety objectives at appropriate functions and
levels, to carry out and continually improve the OH&SMS and OH&S performance
(clause 10.3).

Health and safety objectives must:

(a) Be consistent with the health and safety policy
(b) Be quantifiable (if possible) and available for evaluation

Health and safety objectives must take into consideration the following:

(c) Relevant requirements

(d) The outcomes resulting from the assessment of risks and opportunities
(e) The results of consultation with employees or employees’ representatives where
they exist
(f) Checks, communications and upgrades

PLANNING

Planning to attain health and safety objectives (Clause 6.2.2)

When planning how to attain organizational health and safety objectives,

management must address the following questions:

A. What needs to be worked on?

B. What resources will be needed?
C. Who will be delegated?
D. When it will be finished?
E. How will the outcomes be assessed (including pointers for monitoring)?
F. How will the measures needed to attain health and safety objectives, be
assimilated into business processes?

Management must produce and retain documented information on health and safety
objectives and the plans to achieve them.

 Duties of Management
COMPETENCE

Support Functions - Organizational Resources (Clause 7.1)

Management must recognize and render the resources required for the
establishment, application, maintenance and continual enhancement of the
OH&SMS.

Competence (Clause 7.2)

To achieve mandatory employee competence, management must perform the
following:

1. Identify the influence of employee competence on health and safety performance

2. Ensure that employees are competent (including the capability to recognize
hazards) with help of education, experience and training
3. Take the necessary actions to achieve mandatory employee competence and be
able to evaluate the effectiveness of these measures
4. Retain documented information on proof of employee competence

NOTE: Relevant actions can involve the delivery of training, mentoring, the re-
allocation of presently employed persons and the hiring or outsourcing of competent
persons.

AWARENESS

Awareness (Clause 7.3)

Employees must be made aware of the following:

- Health and safety policies and objectives

- The effectiveness and benefits of the OH&SMS
- The implications and potential outcomes of not conforming to OH&S requirements
- H&S incidents and the results of investigations
- Their ability to leave work situations when there is a grave danger to their life or
health

OBLIGATIONS

Communication (Clause 7.4)

Management must develop, apply and carry out the processes required for the
internal and external communications applicable to the OH&SMS, together with
identifying the following:

 The appropriate subjects of communication

 The appropriate timing
 The appropriate recipients (including contractors and visitors to the workplace)
 The appropriate methodology of communication

The standard stipulates that management must take into account the "diversity" of
the audience when considering its communications. Diversity includes: • Gender •
Language • Culture • Literacy • Disability

Management must ensure that the opinions of external interested parties are
considered, when developing the communications process. In addition, management
must:

 React to appropriate communications regarding its OH&SMS

 Keep documentation, as proof of its communications
 Documentation and Control
 Documentation :

The level of documented information required (Clause 7.5) in an OH&SMS, varies

from one organization to another. This is due mainly to the types of products and
services it provides and the requirement to show legal and other compliance.
Documentation (Clause 7.5.2) should normally include the following:
 Identification and description
 Title, Date and Author
 Reference Number
 Language and format
 Graphics and media
 Software Version

 Control :

Documentation needs to be sufficiently controlled (clause 7.5.3), to ensure:

- It is accessible and relevant for utilization where and when it is needed

- It is sufficiently protected from loss of confidentiality and improper use
- The availability of sharing, right to use and retrieval
- Is is conserved and stored properly
- Version and revision control

 Process Controls and Changes

PROCESS

Management must plan, apply, control and carry out the processes needed to meet
the requirements of the OH&SMS. Applying actions is identified in Clause 6 and
involves the following:
• Developing the criteria for processes
• Applying the control of processes, in accordance with the criteria
• Producing and retaining documented information, so that interested parties and
observers can have confidence that the processes have been carried out
• Adapting work to employees
• At multi-employer workplaces, management must coordinate the OH&SMS with
other managers

CONTROLS

Management must develop, apply and carry out processes for the eradication of
hazards and the minimization of health and safety risks (Clause 8.1.1), by utilizing
the following hierarchy of controls:

(a) Remove or eliminate the hazard

(b) Substitute or replace health and safety hazards and risks, with less hazardous
operations, processes, supplies or machinery
(c) Use engineering controls and the management of work
(d) Use administrative controls, such as training and visual controls
(e) Use adequate protective equipment for employees

CHANGES
Management must develop a process or processes, for the application and control of
intended short term and long term changes that impact on health and safety
performance. This includes:
• Modifications to old products and services, work sites and the neighborhood
• Labor force and machinery
• Legal and other requirements
• Modifications in knowledge and facts about hazards and health and safety
risks
• Upgrades of technology and related knowledge
• Management must analyze the outcomes of unplanned changes and take
measures to decrease the impact of adverse effects.

 Outsourcing and Emergencies

CONTRACTORS

Management must develop, apply and carry out processes to control the acquisition
of products and services (Purchasing Controls - Clause 8.1.4), to ensure
compliance with the OH&SMS.
Management must organize the procurement process with contractors (Clause
8.1.4.2), list hazards and analyze health and safety risks arising from:

• Contractor activity that influences the workplace

• Activities and functions that affect the contractors’ employees

The contractor's work and functions at a site, have an influence on the interested
parties in that area. Management must ensure that the needs of its health and safety
management system are fulfilled by contractors and their employees.

OUTSOURCING

Management must ensure that subcontracted jobs and processes are managed.
They must also ensure that outsourcing preparations are made in accordance with
legal and other requirements. The processes involved and the extent of control,
must be explained in the OH&SMS.

EMERGENCIES
Management must develop, apply and carry out the processes required to prepare
for emergency conditions, including the following:

1. Develop readiness and planned reactions to emergency conditions, together with

the prompt delivery of first aid
2. Offer training for the planned responses
3. Test emergency procedures regularly
4. Send and offer suitable information to all employees during such events
5. Assess performance

Appropriate information must be sent to visitors, contractors, emergency response

units, government authorities and the community during such events. Moreover, all
interested parties must be involved in the design and fulfillment of emergency
planned responses. As usual, management must produce and retain documented
information on the processes involved.

 Module Two Summary

 An organization's policy should include a commitment to providing a safe and
healthy working environment and a commitment towards continual improvement of
its occupational health and safety management system (OH&SMS).
 Management must identify all "interested parties" in the system, together with
employees. Interacting with the organization’s workers, contractual partners and
shareholders is an important part of maintaining a list of all interested parties. If a
business has a high accident rate, insurance premiums will rise. Insurers are
therefore an "interested party".
 The competence of an organization’s workforce is an internal issue and is relevant
to effective health and safety management.
 External factors are outside an organization's direct control. However, they
influence an organization’s business and operations and consequently its OH&SMS.
 The latest discoveries and research into contemporary illness in the workplace
highlights: recurring stress, strains and depression (mental health). It finds that
legislation must be upgraded and business contexts need to be fully documented, if
organizations are to truly alter their health and safety systems to function
effectively.
 'Scope' refers to the boundaries and applicability of an organization's OH&SMS.
 Management must take into account the "diversity" of its interested parties, when
formulating its health and safety communications strategy. Diversity, according to
the ISO 45001:2018 standard includes: Gender, Language, Culture, Literacy and
Disability.
 Employees must be made aware of the organization's health and safety policy and
its health and safety management objectives.
 Management must react to appropriate communications regarding its health and
safety management system.
 The documented information relevant to the OH&SMS, should include the following
components: Identification and description; Format, language and reference
number; Title, date and author; Software version (if relevant); References to media
and graphics used.
 Documented information should be protected from: Loss of confidentiality;
Improper use and Loss of integrity (damage).
 Management must develop, apply and carry out processes for the eradication of
hazards and the minimization of health and safety risks, using the following
'hierarchy of controls': (a) Remove or eliminate the hazard; (b) Substitute or replace
hazards and risks with less hazardous operations, processes, supplies and
machinery; (c) Use engineering controls and management of work; (d) Use
administrative controls such as training and visual controls; (e) Use adequate
personal protective equipment.
 Where short or long term changes are applicable to work practices, a risk and
opportunities assessment should be undertaken before the change is applied.
 Only top management or its delegated personnel should develop, apply and carry
out the processes for hazard identification.
 Legal and other requirements relevant to health and safety, constitute risks and
opportunities for an organization, which management must address.
 Management must develop, apply and carry out processes to assess occupational
health and safety opportunities, in order to enhance occupational health and safety
performance in an organization.
 Management must develop occupational health and safety objectives relevant to
different work functions and levels.
 Management must identify and provide the resources needed for the
establishment, application, maintenance and continual enhancement of the
OH&SMS.
 Management must send information regarding its OH&SMS and concerning legal
and other requirements, to any relevant external parties.
 Management must develop, apply and carry out processes to control the
acquisition of products and services, to ensure their compliance with the OH&SMS.
 Management must ensure that its outsourcing activities, with respect to health and
safety, are in fulfilment of legal and other requirements.
 Management must develop, apply and carry out processes to prepare for possible
emergency situations.
 Management must produce and retain documentation, regarding its processes and
plans for reacting to potential emergency situations.