ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health & Safety Management
The international standard for OH&S management — preventing work-related injury, ill-health, and fatalities through systematic hazard identification and risk control.
Everything you need to know about ISO 45001:2018
ISO 45001:2018 specifies requirements for an OH&S management system enabling organisations to proactively prevent work-related injury and ill-health. It replaces OHSAS 18001 and adopts the ISO High-Level Structure for integration with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. The standard emphasises worker participation, leadership commitment, and a shift from reactive to proactive safety management — requiring systematic hazard identification and control using the hierarchy of controls before incidents occur.
ISO 45001:2018 is applicable to any organisation with workers or obligations regarding worker health and safety. It is particularly critical in high-hazard sectors — construction, manufacturing, mining, energy, transport, and healthcare — but is equally applicable to office environments and professional services. It is the natural complement to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in an integrated management system.
Certification follows Assurance International's standard four-stage process. The Stage 2 audit includes physical site inspections and interviews with workers at all levels — not just management — assessing whether OH&S culture and worker engagement are genuinely embedded. All findings are discussed transparently at the closing meeting. View the full certification process.
ISO 45001:2018 certificates are valid for three years. Surveillance audits focus on incident records, corrective actions, OH&S performance trends, and legal compliance. Recertification involves a full re-assessment at the end of the cycle. Organisations that treat ISO 45001 as a genuine safety improvement tool — reducing incidents through systematic management — get sustained value from their certification.