How to address and implement OH&S opportunities in ISO 45001:2018?

  • Thread starter safetyofficergroup7
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S

safetyofficergroup7

I am trying to figure out on how I can address and implement OH&S opportunities in ISO 45001:2018 OHSMS. Anyone have any ideas? Thank you.
 

Sidney Vianna

Post Responsibly
Leader
Admin
For example:

  • New types of Personal Protective Equipment - PPE.
  • Deployment of technological solutions to reduce hazards, such as robotic equipment for high risk and/or repetitive work.
  • Outsourcing of work with high risk to external sources which have better resources to deal with such hazards.
 
S

safetyofficergroup7

How about the assessment process for OH&S opportunities? Is there any formats to be used? Is an OH&S opportunities register suitable?
 

Henria

OSH Officer
Hello !

Safetyofficergroup7, in ISO 45001 annex, § A.6.1.1 gives examples of OH&S "opportunities" :

"Planning is not a single event but an ongoing process, anticipating changing circumstances and continually determining risks and opportunities, both for the workers and for the OHSMS.

Undesired effects can include work-related injury and ill health, noncompliance with legal requirements and other requirements, or damage to reputation.

Planning considers the relationships and interactions between the activities and requirements for the management system as a whole.

OH&S opportunities address the identification of hazards, how they are communicated, and the analysis and mitigation of known hazards. Other opportunities address system improvement strategies.

Examples of other opportunities to improve OH&S performance:
a) inspection and auditing functions;
b) job hazard analysis (job safety analysis) and task-related assessments;
c) improving OH&S performance by alleviating monotonous work or work at a potentially hazardous pre-determined work rate;
d) permit to work and other recognition and control methods;
e) incident or nonconformity investigations and corrective actions; f) ergonomic and other injury prevention-related assessments.

Examples of other opportunities to improve OH&S performance:
- integrating OHS requirements at the earliest stage in the life cycle of facilities, equipment or process planning for facilities relocation, process re*design or replacement of machinery and plant;
- integrating OHS requirements at the earliest stage of planning for facilities relocation, process re-design or replacement of machinery and plant;
- using new technologies to improve OH&S performance;
- improving the OHS culture, such as by extending competence related to OHS beyond requirements or encouraging workers to report incidents in a timely manner;
- improving the visibility of top management’s support for the OHSMS;
- enhancing the incident investigation process(es);
- improving the process(es) for worker consultation and participation;
- benchmarking, including consideration of both the organization’s own past performance and that of other organizations;
- collaborating in forums that focus on topics dealing with occupational health and safety.
"

Yes "risks and opportunities" and its determnation-assessment-control process shall be documented (see especially the end of § 6.1.1 and § 6.1.2.3). But ISO 45001 does not induce any particular way of evaluating the opportunities that arise... everyone is free to use his own method(s) to decide or not the actions he could launch to improve his activities.

Note: ISO 9001 is less demanding than ISO 45001 or 14001 about opportunities. Indeed ISO 9001 has no requirement for evaluation, process or documentation of the (risks and) opportunities.

Best regards.
 
Last edited:

Mukwaya

Registered
Hello !

Safetyofficergroup7, in ISO 45001 annex, § A.6.1.1 gives examples of OH&S "opportunities" :

"Planning is not a single event but an ongoing process, anticipating changing circumstances and continually determining risks and opportunities, both for the workers and for the OHSMS.

Undesired effects can include work-related injury and ill health, noncompliance with legal requirements and other requirements, or damage to reputation.

Planning considers the relationships and interactions between the activities and requirements for the management system as a whole.

OH&S opportunities address the identification of hazards, how they are communicated, and the analysis and mitigation of known hazards. Other opportunities address system improvement strategies.

Examples of other opportunities to improve OH&S performance:
a) inspection and auditing functions;
b) job hazard analysis (job safety analysis) and task-related assessments;
c) improving OH&S performance by alleviating monotonous work or work at a potentially hazardous pre-determined work rate;
d) permit to work and other recognition and control methods;
e) incident or nonconformity investigations and corrective actions; f) ergonomic and other injury prevention-related assessments.


Examples of other opportunities to improve OH&S performance:
- integrating OHS requirements at the earliest stage in the life cycle of facilities, equipment or process planning for facilities relocation, process re*design or replacement of machinery and plant;
- integrating OHS requirements at the earliest stage of planning for facilities relocation, process re-design or replacement of machinery and plant;
- using new technologies to improve OH&S performance;
- improving the OHS culture, such as by extending competence related to OHS beyond requirements or encouraging workers to report incidents in a timely manner;
- improving the visibility of top management’s support for the OHSMS;
- enhancing the incident investigation process(es);
- improving the process(es) for worker consultation and participation;
- benchmarking, including consideration of both the organization’s own past performance and that of other organizations;
- collaborating in forums that focus on topics dealing with occupational health and safety.
"

Yes "risks and opportunities" and its determnation-assessment-control process shall be documented (see especially the end of § 6.1.1 and § 6.1.2.3). But ISO 45001 does not induce any particular way of evaluating the opportunities that arise... everyone is free to use his own method(s) to decide or not the actions he could launch to improve his activities.

Note: ISO 9001 is less demanding than ISO 45001 or 14001 about opportunities. Indeed ISO 9001 has no requirement for evaluation, process or documentation of the (risks and) opportunities.

Best regards.

I have a final exam to be a certified Lead Auditor 45001 and this information is helping already
 

Henria

OSH Officer
Thank you for thanking me Mukwaya, but I have not discovered or invented anything, this information is in ISO 45001 from the start.
 

Mikey324

Quite Involved in Discussions
We thought about it in terms of each process. Each process will have its own risks and opportunities. We chose to use a process matrix to address it. Maybe that's because my 20 year background includes mostly quality assurance work. We quality people love a matrix.

For example, our HR and Safety process. One interested party is the government (OSHA). Their exceptions are that we comply with applicable regulations. This creates an opportunity to provide a healthy and safe work force. On the other hand it also has a risk of noncompliance.

Make sense? This is just my idea. We were audited to the new 45K standard this year, our auditor took no issue with my method.
 

Henria

OSH Officer
Hi !

Question for you Mikey:
- What is the "shape" and entries of your matrix? Can you attach a visual example to illustrate?
- Does each of your OHS processes have "necessarily" and permanently OHS or MS opportunities?

Cordially.
 
Last edited:

Mikey324

Quite Involved in Discussions
Hi !

Question for you Mikey:
- What is the "shape" and entries of your matrix? Can you attach a visual example to illustrate?
- Does each of your OHS processes have "necessarily" and permanently OHS or MS opportunities?

Cordially.
Henria,

We don't differentiate between OHS and QMS. Both are combined in the list, as each process may have both OHS and quality related risk and opportunity. i'm having trouble attaching, so i'll try to explain below with an example of one of them in ( )
Column 1 - Process name (Training Health and Safety)
Column 2 - Interested parties for the process (Company XYZ Work Force)
Column 3 - Needs and expectations of those interested parties (Safe work environment, training, and work instructions)
Column 4 - Risks for the process (Pandemic, work force shortage)
Column 5 - Opportunities for the process (provide free flu shot to all who want them, provide free health screenings)
Column 6 - Interested parties level of involvement in the OHSMS/QMS. We score 1 - 5. 1 being involved in the everyday operation, 5 being never involved. For example, the safety team would be 1. OSHA would be a 5. OSHA is interested in your compliance, but they don't work in your safety department. (Score 3)
Column 7 - Immediate impact on the OHMS/QMS. Scored 1 to 5. Same concept as above. (Score 5)
Column 8 - Score. Score = column 6 times column 7. The higher the score, the less control you have. (Total Score 15)
Column 9 - Method to meet expectation/requirements (training process, medical screening and vaccinations)
Column 10 - Method of monitoring (result in safety meeting/ management review meetings)
Column 11 - action necessary (yes/no) (No)
Column 12 - action taken (N/A)
Column 13 - Responsible (N/A)

This format covers the context of the organization, needs and expectations of interested parties, and risk and opportunities. Hope this helps.
 
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