Who is responsible for the health and safety of the workplace?

If your employer or employee considers health and safety to be someone else’s job, please think again. No matter where you work, health and safety require everyone to fully comply to be effective. ISO 45001 replaces OHSAS 18001, and organizations must achieve compliance by September 11, 2021.

How is ISO 45001 different?

ISO 45001 puts more emphasis on management and employee participation in health and safety. This is no longer the only responsibility of the health and safety manager-it needs to be part of your business strategy, allowing management and employees to play their roles and pay more attention to risk management.

What is the employer's responsibility?

Business owners and employers are legally responsible for health and safety management. This means that they need to ensure that employees and anyone who visits their premises are protected from anything that could cause harm, and control any harm or health risks that may arise in the workplace. The main responsibilities of the employer are:

• Conduct a risk assessment in the workplace to determine whether there are adequate procedures to protect personnel.

• Determine who needs to prevent hazards, including employees, contractors, part-time workers, and those with specific requirements.

• Implement safety procedures by providing and maintaining anything (such as equipment and training) needed to ensure personnel safety.

• Develop a health and safety policy to let employees understand existing health and safety procedures, including fire safety and first aid.

• Provide employees with information about workplace health and safety issues and how to protect them.

• Provide training to help employees understand the risks they may face in a particular role.

• Display health and safety posters, which is a legal requirement.

• Provide first aid kits, and are equipped with a number of first-aiders who have received practical training.

What are employees responsible for?

Employees also have legal requirements to help keep the workplace safe, and are responsible for the health and safety of themselves and others who may be affected by their work behavior. If employees follow safety instructions, they can help keep the workplace safe and help companies fulfill their legal responsibilities. The main responsibilities of employees are:

Understand the risks associated with their work and carry out the work safely to minimize the risks around the workplace.

Follow any health and safety training and work in a way that does not cause danger or increase risk to yourself or others.

Follow safety procedures, which include any measures taken to protect their safety, such as protective barriers, systems, equipment, and wearing PPE when necessary for work.

Be proactive and help minimize the danger, for example, cleaning and tidying up obstacles while walking.

If they believe that something poses a safety risk, please report any mistakes in the safety procedures. For example, if they find faulty equipment or damaged PPE, they should tell their supervisor immediately.

How does ISO 45001 help fulfill health and safety responsibilities?

Having a clear health and safety management system can help you identify specific risks and track the employees responsible for those risks. Although the ultimate goal is to protect employees from harm, reducing the risk of accidents, claims, costs, and business interruption is beneficial to any business. Compliance with ISO 45001 allows your organization to certify health and safety certificates, impress new and existing customers, win and retain business, including government contract opportunities.

Achieve compliance with confidence

Contact us to learn how ISO 45001 can help your business, or to learn more about our ISO 45001 certification.

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