The year 2018 heralded the formal introduction of ISO 45001: Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, with the new standard officially superseding AS 4801. The Australian Standard was tagged as ‘available superseded’ on the Standards Australia website and organisations were warned that their existing certification would be phased out. The level of uptake within the private sector was strong with many organisations integrating the changes and looking to future-proof their management systems.

However, from a governmental perspective progress was, and still is, slow. Standards Australia advised that the reason AS 4801 had not been withdrawn and directly replaced by ISO 45001 was that several jurisdictions have AS 4801 cited in legislation, government guidance material or within tenders. This was a matter for the relevant government jurisdiction to address. Standards Australia stated that once this is done, they will be able to revoke AS 4801.

The original plan from JAS ANZ was that AS 4801 was to remain until the end of March 2021, then that was extended to September, and now the timeline for certified organisations to migrate from AS 4801 has been extended to July 2023. And while this drags on we have a disconnect in play whereby some organisations are required to work to the old industry standard (AS 4801) that does not systemically align with the current WHS Legislation.

ISO 45001’s structure, detail and approach is now aligned to the structure of other standards using the new Annex SL format and is much more aligned with the current (model) Work Health & Safety Legislation. This is particularly notable in relation to the following:

  • ISO 45001 structures the responsibility for management of WHS with ‘Top Management’ – where it should be, if we consider the WHS legislative responsibilities and the promotion of Due Diligence (ISO 45001 has 13 responsibilities assigned to ‘Top Management’ that were previously allocated to a ‘Management Representative’ under AS 4801).
  • ‘Top Management’ need to make a Policy commitment to “… eliminate hazards and reduce OHS risks” – as we know this is the central underpinning component of a PCBU’s legislative requirement, and is also reflected in the Officer’s Due Diligence requirements – but previously under AS 4801 approach there was no direct requirement.
  • Risk Management within ISO 45001 goes beyond hazard management, and now also specifically includes psychosocial risks. As we know this is a growing focal point within the current legislative approach.
  • ISO 45001 has a dedicated section for Procurement (8.1.4) outlining the specific requirements for considering and managing the health and safety risks arising from a subcontractor’s operations, the impact on your organisation, & the subcontractor’s impact on other interested parties.
  • ISO 45001’s ‘Evaluation of compliance’ is new, requiring the organisation to evaluate their compliance with legal and other requirements and retain documented information of the evaluation results. This process aligns with an Officer’s Due Diligence requirements.

QRMC strongly advocates that all Work Health and Safety Management Systems should be updated to ISO 45001 (as the Industry Best Practice Standard) as it presents a better alignment with the current legislative requirements.

Please contact QRMC for more information.