ISO 45001 OH&S Policy and OH&S Objectives

Section 5.2 requires that you define and document your OH&S Policy and Section 6.2.1 requires you to define and document your OH&S Objectives. Both are intended to lead to continual improvement of your health and safety performance.

ISO 45000 OH&S Policy: (ISO 45001 Sec 5.2)

It is a brief statement or document that defines your health and safety policy and objectives, a top management commitment to meeting them as well as continual improvement. It should provide an outline for creating, stating, and measuring your performance of the OH&S objectives.

Example: We will consistently provide products and services that meet or exceed the requirements and expectations of our customers. We will actively pursue ever improving health and safety through programs that enable each employee to do their job right in a safe and healthy workplace.

ISO 45001 OH&S Objectives: (ISO 45001 Sec 6.2.1)

OH&S objectives are established at relevant functions and levels to maintain the management system and to achieve continual improvement in OH&S performance. These measurable steps towards achieving your OH&S policy are either determined as you create your OHSMS or in your management reviews. You need to ask yourself: what will you do to meet the goals stated in the OH&S policy? Knowing that perfection is impossible, you must have some acceptable tolerance defined and measured.

Examples:

• Reduce injury frequency by 20% at site #1 within 1 year.
• Reduce emissions of fumes by 15% at site #2 within 1 year
• Decrease number of (hazards) incidents by 10% at site #3 within 1 year.

When you are working on document control, make sure that you include your OH&S policy and objectives. They must be controlled. Control them by:

• Making them part of a procedure
• Making them part of the OH&S manual
• Making them their own numbered, controlled document
• You may want to handle the OH&S policy and OH&S objectives separately because the objectives might change more frequently than the policy.