Occupational Health and Safety Policy
ISO45001 Toolkit: Version 1 ©CertiKit
Occupational Health and Safety Policy
Implementation guidance The header page and this section, up to and including Disclaimer, must be removed from the final version of the document. For more details on replacing the logo, yellow highlighted text, and certain generic terms, see the Completion Instructions document.
Purpose of this document The Occupational Health and Safety Policy is a document which acts as the root definition of the OH&S management system.
Areas of the standard addressed The following areas of the ISO45001 standard are addressed by this document: •
5 Leadership and worker participation o 5.1 Leadership and commitment o 5.2 OH&S policy
General guidance The Occupational Health and Safety Policy should be approved by Top Management (normally defined as the “person or group of people who direct and control the organization at the highest level”) as evidence of their commitment. This policy refers in places to other documents which provide more detail; the exact structure of documentation is not mandated by the ISO45001 standard and so you could choose to add some of the contents of other documents into this policy to reduce the total number of documents in your OH&S management system. We would also recommend that this document is made available via the intranet, if you have one, or via any other appropriate means.
Review frequency We would recommend that this document is reviewed as part of an annual exercise which also covers key documents such as the OHS Management Plan. This exercise should include significant management and worker involvement to ensure that changed requirements are captured and customer feedback obtained.
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Document fields This document may contain fields which need to be updated with your own information, including a field for Organization Name that is linked to the custom document property “Organization Name”. To update this field (and any others that may exist in this document): 1. Update the custom document property “Organization Name” by clicking File > Info > Properties > Advanced Properties > Custom > Organization Name. 2. Press Ctrl A on the keyboard to select all text in the document (or use Select, Select All via the Editing header on the Home tab). 3. Press F9 on the keyboard to update all fields. 4. When prompted, choose the option to just update TOC page numbers. If you wish to permanently convert the fields in this document to text, for instance, so that they are no longer updateable, you will need to click into each occurrence of the field and press Ctrl Shift F9. If you would like to make all fields in the document visible, go to File > Options > Advanced > Show document content > Field shading and set this to “Always”. This can be useful to check you have updated all fields correctly. Further detail on the above procedure can be found in the toolkit Completion Instructions. This document also contains guidance on working with the toolkit documents with an Apple Mac, and in Google Docs/Sheets.
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Contents 1
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 8
2
Occupational health and safety policy ........................................................................ 9 2.1
Top management leadership and commitment ............................................................. 9
2.2
Framework for setting objectives ................................................................................. 9
2.3
Roles and responsibilities ........................................................................................... 10
2.4
Continual improvement of the OH&S management system ......................................... 10
2.5
Approach to managing hazards, risks and opportunities.............................................. 10
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Human resources ....................................................................................................... 11
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Auditing and review ................................................................................................... 11
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Documentation structure and policy........................................................................... 11
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Control of records ...................................................................................................... 12
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1 Introduction This policy defines how an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system that conforms to the ISO45001 standard will be set up, managed, measured, reported on and developed within [Organization Name]. While it doesn’t give any absolute guarantees of occupational health and safety protection, an OH&S management system can contribute significantly towards delivering many of the following benefits to [Organization Name] and its workers: • • • • • • • • • •
Year-on-year improvement in the degree of protection we provide to workers as a result of the continuous improvement aspects of the standard A strong move away from reactive firefighting towards proactive occupational health and safety management Engaging and consulting with the workers on OH&S matters, creating a positive and proactive culture Significantly reduced risk of reputational damage, legal penalties or loss of business revenue due to occupational health and safety issues Peace of mind assurance to our customers, workers, board members, suppliers and other interested parties that our products and services do not put safety at risk An ability to bid for and respond to tenders for business where ISO45001 certification is a requirement A public demonstration that [Organization Name] takes occupational health and safety management seriously Better alignment of occupational health and safety management with the needs of the business and our customers through regular review meetings with interested parties Better perception and awareness of occupational health and safety issues within the business, our customers and other stakeholders An improved ability to manage OH&S issues if they do occur, so reducing reputational damage and limiting the impact to us, our customers and the public
[Organization Name] has decided to pursue full certification to ISO45001 in order that the effective adoption of occupational health and safety management best practice may be validated by an independent third party, a Registered Certification Body (RCB).
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2 Occupational health and safety policy 2.1 Top management leadership and commitment Commitment to occupational health and safety management extends to senior levels of the organization and will be demonstrated through this policy and the provision of appropriate resources to provide and develop the OH&S management system and associated procedures and controls. Specifically, top management is committed to: • • • • •
Providing safe and healthy working conditions for the prevention of work-related injury and ill health Fulfilling all applicable legal and other relevant requirements Eliminating hazards where possible and reasonably practical, and reducing OH&S risks within the workplace Continually improving the OH&S management system The consultation and participation of workers and their representatives
Top management will also ensure that a systematic review of performance of the programme is conducted on a regular basis to ensure that health and safety objectives are being met and relevant issues are identified through the audit programme and management processes. Management review can take several forms, including departmental and other management meetings. The [Occupational Health and Safety Manager] shall have overall authority and responsibility for the implementation and operation of the OH&S management system, specifically: • • • • • • •
The identification, documentation and fulfilment of occupational health and safety requirements Implementation, co-ordination and improvement of hazard, risk and opportunity management processes Integration of operational processes, procedures and controls Meeting compliance obligations with regard to occupational health and safety management Reporting to top management on performance and improvement The reporting of incidents in line with policies and procedures Engaging with workers on occupational health and safety issues
2.2 Framework for setting objectives A regular cycle will be used for the setting of objectives for occupational health and safety management to coincide with the budget planning cycle. This framework is documented in the OHS Management Plan. Version 1
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2.3 Roles and responsibilities Within the field of occupational health and safety management, there are a number of roles that correspond to the areas defined within the scope of the management system. In a larger organization, these roles will often be filled by an individual in each area. In a smaller organization, these roles and responsibilities must be allocated between members of the team. Full details of the responsibilities associated with each of the roles and how they are allocated within [Organization Name] are given in a separate document, Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities. It is the responsibility of the [Occupational Health and Safety Manager] to ensure that employees and contractors understand the roles they fulfil and that they have appropriate skills and competence to do so.
2.4 Continual improvement of the OH&S management system [Organization Name] is committed to continual improvement of the OH&S management system and takes steps in all areas to encourage the identification of improvements through consultation with, and the participation of, workers at all levels.
2.5 Approach to managing hazards, risks and opportunities Hazard, risk and opportunity management will take place at several levels within the OH&S management system, including: • • • •
Management planning – risks to the achievement of occupational health and safety objectives will be assessed and reviewed on a regular basis Individual hazard, risk and opportunity assessments at the business activity level Assessment of the occupational health and safety risk of planned and unplanned changes As part of major projects to achieve business change, e.g. the building of a new factory
High-level risk and opportunity assessments will be reviewed on an annual basis or upon significant change to the business or operating environment. Consultation with workers will be carried out where appropriate and workers asked to cooperate and engage with management in reviewing and bringing about any new initiatives related to occupational health and safety within the organization. A process for identifying hazards and analysing the resulting risks will be used which is line with the requirements and recommendations of ISO45001, the international standard for
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occupational health and safety management systems. This is documented in OHS Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Process. From this analysis, an appropriate risk assessment will be generated, incorporating a plan for appropriate actions to address these risks, if existing measures are not felt to be adequate.
2.6 Human resources [Organization Name] will ensure that all staff involved in occupational health and safety management are competent in terms of appropriate education, training, skills and experience. The skills required will be determined and reviewed on a regular basis together with an assessment of existing skill levels within [Organization Name]. Training needs will be identified, and a plan maintained to ensure that the necessary competencies are in place. Training, education and other relevant records will be kept by the HR Department to document individual skill levels attained.
2.7 Auditing and review Once in place, it is vital that regular reviews take place of how well occupational health and safety management processes and procedures are being adhered to. This will happen at three levels: 1. Structured regular management review of conformity to policies and procedures 2. Internal audit reviews against the ISO45001 standard (and accompanying codes of practice) by the [Organization Name] internal audit team 3. External audit against the standard by a Registered Certification Body (RCB) in order to gain and maintain certification Details of how internal audits will be carried out can be found in Procedure for Internal Audits.
2.8 Documentation structure and policy All occupational health and safety management policies and plans must be documented. Details of documentation conventions and standards are given in the Procedure for the Control of Documented Information.
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Core documents will be maintained as part of the OH&S management system. They are uniquely numbered, and the current versions are tracked in the OH&S Management System Documentation Log.
2.9 Control of records The keeping of records is a fundamental part of the OH&S management system. Records are key information resources and represent evidence that processes are being carried out effectively. The controls in place to manage records are defined in the document Procedure for the Control of Documented Information.
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