Table of Contents
What is the current standard for Safety Management Systems?
ISO 45001 is now the global International Standard for occupational health and safety management systems, and AS 4801 is no longer current
WHY do you need a certified OHS Management System (OHSMS)?
Benefits of an OHSMS
- helping create safer work environments
- reducing injuries and injury-related costs – by pre-empting injuries, employers save money on medical expenses, the injured employee’s wages, insurance claim excesses, replacement labour and increased workers’ compensation insurance premiums
- improving business opportunities – many companies have preferential purchasing policies that favour purchasing products or services from companies with an OHSMS
- providing measurable systems that can verify OHS performance
- demonstrating you are meeting legal requirements
- meet moral requirements as leaders – how would you feel if there was a workplace death, and you hadn’t been doing everything possible to prevent incidents?
- enhancing the organisation’s reputation
- worlds best practice and benchmarking
Research shows that there are clear links between good OHS management systems and long-term business efficiency.
ABS – 2000 – 2006
Sedentary v High Risk Industries
Decrease in incidents – those forced to implement OHS system (High Risk)
Increase in incidents – sedentary occupations
Avoid Penalties under the Victorian OHS Act
Penalties for breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) can be substantial. Penalties are expressed in penalty units and are adjusted by the Victorian Government each financial year.
For the 2026–27 financial year, the maximum penalty under section 26(1) is:
- $376,380 for an individual (1,800 penalty units)
- $1,881,900 for a body corporate (9,000 penalty units)
What is required for a certified OHSMS and how will it look?
Commitment form all levels and functions, especially senior management
Enable achievement of the highest levels of OHS Performance
- Sets out OHS policy and objectives
- Establishes, assesses and reviews the effectiveness of procedures
- Achieves conformance with the OHS policy and objectives
- Demonstrates conformance to others
OHS Policy & Procedures & Forms
OHS Plan
IMPLEMENTATION
Measurement and Evaluation
Review
Continuous Improvement
How will OHS&HR MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS help?
Gap Analysis
Developing and Implementation Plan
Allocating and auditing against responsibilities
Building on / refining current system
Training / Meetings / Tracking the Plan / culture building activities
Preparing documentation for audits
What will change if we have a certified OHSMS?
Policy is there, procedures are there – They cover all areas required by ISO 4500
- A plan – Set targets / allocated responsibilities
- Measuring success PPIs
- Audits – Internal / External
- Procedural implementation
- People will be know and working under procedures
- Procedures are they practical
- Ultimately: Cultural change – like seatbelts
Tendering for contracts will be easier as they often ask for certification evidence, expecially government contracts
What should the culture look like?
The change in culture that we want to bring about will be defined by;
Reporting Culture –
where staff and contactors seek to report unsafe conditions, near misses and any concerns they have about safety.
encourage to report the good with the bad.
Just Culture –
where people promote safety rather than allocating blame or punishment for reporting errors (incidents / near misses / safety breaches)
Learning Culture –
a Learning Culture will allow people to understand and comfortably question safety procedures and requirements
Think Safety Culture –
The first thought before starting a new task – is this safe, what do we need to do to make this safe, we are not starting until it is
All in this together Culture –
Everyone cares for each others safety and understands the role they play. Top to bottom.
Leading by Example Culture –
Critical leaders are identified, OHS competencies known and measured, practice what they preach
How long will it take to achieve ISO 45001 certification?
18 months – 2 years for ISO 45001
Note this article originally spoke about AS4801 and has not been updated
Agree this is one of the biggest changes to how health and safety law in ten years. Keep eye on OHS communities like this one and http://www.safetyconcepts.com.au to see what HR and HSE professionals do to make sure they comply.
One important benefit not included in your opening paragraph – Improve business performance.
Good safety management is good business management. Not only for the reasons noted (e.g. reduced costs) but also because OHS is often an easy introduction to risk management and running a successful organisation is all about risk management.
This article really shows all the details of the management systems as well as the changes it can do. Just wanted to know about the culture. Is it related to the management system culture?
Sorry for taking so long to reply! Just saw this unanswered comment. I believe that a well implemented OHS management system drives a good safety culture. They are two different things, but cannot exist in isolation. It is an important element of the OHS management system to ensure positive safety culture is measured along the way and that health and safety activities planned aim at improving that culture. For example, employees need to feel compelled to report hazards and incidents. Workers need to feel valued and positive about representing others on OHS matters.