Occupational Health and Safety Compliance: Ensuring Workplace Safety

Ensuring Workplace Health and Safety Compliance with ISO 45001 and Other Safety Management Systems

ISO 45001 represents a significant evolution from its predecessor, OHSAS 18001, marking a substantial improvement in safety management systems (SMS). Whether or not your organization is officially certified, most safety management systems mandate that companies identify regulatory requirements and uphold compliance with their obligations, ensuring OHS compliance and workplace health and safety compliance. 

Notably, ISO 45001 and similar systems have a well-defined requirement for identifying and adhering to applicable regulations, standards, and other obligations, in accordance with OSHA guidelines. Article 6.1.3 of ISO 45001 succinctly outlines this requirement:

6.1.3 Determination of Legal Requirements and Other Requirements

The organization shall establish, implement, and maintain processes to:

• Determine and have access to up-to-date legal requirements and other requirements relevant to its hazards, OH&S risks, and OH&S management system, in alignment with workplace safety regulations and workplace health and safety compliance.

• Define how these legal requirements and other obligations apply to the organization and the communication procedures necessary, ensuring compliance with health standards at work.

• Incorporate these legal requirements and other obligations when establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving its OH&S management system.

The organization shall also maintain and retain documented information on its legal requirements and other obligations and ensure that it stays up-to-date to reflect any changes.

Complexities of OSH Compliance

Understanding that the typical jurisdiction imposes over 400 regulatory safety requirements and obligations, the complexity of OSH compliance becomes clear. When we consider the additional requirements embedded in company-specific documents, procedures, training manuals, and other safety-related materials, the number of OHS obligations can skyrocket to over 2,000 for an industrial site. This is compounded by the fact that more than 3% of regulations change annually, presenting a constant challenge to safety teams with limited resources.

Effectively managing these multifaceted obligations within medium to large companies necessitates an investment in a robust regulatory monitoring tool equipped with workflow functionality and action planning, such as safety audit tools. Nimonik stands ready to assist your organization in maintaining ISO 45001 compliance for legal requirements management.

How Nimonik helps you achieve Safety Regulatory Compliance

Nimonik Comprehensive Compliance platform helps organizations effectively manage compliance requirements. With Nimonik, you obtain:

1. Access to all occupational health and safety laws, regulations, standards and related information 
2. Tools to manage all your legal and other obligations in one location
3. Notifications when regulations and industry standards change
4. Risk-based assessments and audits to identify any gaps or corrective actions in your compliance
5. Ability to convert your obligations in regulations and documents into internal audits
6. Real-time compliance reports to identify issues, gaps and action items

Some sample Occupational Health and Safety regulations

• Production Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China(China)
• Industrial Safety and Health Act (Japan)

Sample Safety Compliance Checklists

• ISO 45001
• Risk Assessment And Preventive Actions In A Manufacturing Unit Checklist
• Construction Hazard Identification and Risk Checklist
• Weekly Inspection on Job Sites Checklist
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Self Inspection Checklist
• Heavy Vehicle Inspection Checklist
• Daily Vehicle Maintenance Checklist

OHS Compliance Scope of Coverage

1. Safety Management – General Requirements

• Ensure employees’ suitability for work (age, fitness, disability, pregnancy, etc., excluding transient states like fatigue or temporary impairment).

• Implement job modifications to enhance employee health and safety.

• Uphold the general duty of care and recognize rights and responsibilities, which may include the right to refuse work or initiate a work stoppage. This is a broad requirement, but it can be summarized and take safety very seriously and ensure you can prove that you did.

• Establish a safety management system to manage employee health and safety effectively.

• Appoint health and safety representatives, which may involve joint health and safety committees.

• Maintain comprehensive recordkeeping and documentation, particularly for accidents and injuries (for detailed information, refer to the Accident/Illness Investigation, Recordkeeping, and Reporting topic).

• Log and tackle safety incidents as they occur, which may encompass non-injury incidents (for accidents and injuries, refer to the Accident/Illness Investigation, Recordkeeping, and Reporting topic).

• Ensure proper reporting practices, covering both general reporting and reporting related to accidents and injuries.

• Manage maintenance and housekeeping, which includes tasks like sweeping, cleaning, and debris removal, allowing employees to move freely and comfortably. This topic is distinct from Occupational Health: Workplace Requirements, which focuses on workplace design for disease prevention.

• Conduct workplace inspections and enforcing safety measures, providing access and assistance, with strict prohibitions on obstruction and retaliation. It also outlines general penalties and fines for non-compliance.

2. Plans and Policies

• Develop and implement safety plans and policies that align with regulatory requirements and organizational goals.

3. Information, Communication, and Training

• Ensure the dissemination of safety information, including the use of safety data sheets to protect employees.

• Implement hazard communication programs to raise awareness of potential risks.

• Provide training and qualifications that meet general certification and supervision requirements.

• Utilize health and safety signs to convey critical information to employees.

4. Risk Assessment and Risk Management Program

• Perform risk assessments, including process hazard analysis and hazard evaluation.
• Develop action plans for risk management and reporting on progress.

5. Machinery and Work Equipment Safety

• Safeguard machinery and equipment through measures like machine guarding.
• Enforce dress code regulations, prohibiting loose-fitting clothing.
• Implement operational controls and measures to prevent collisions with vehicles and crushing incidents.
• Establish rules and safety protocols for vehicles used to transport workers and for other equipment designed to protect workers’ personal safety.
• Covering work involving boilers, steam, and elevators.

6. Special Hazard Environments

• Address unique and high-risk work environments, including confined spaces, excavations, trenches, shafts, tunnels, and tasks performed in or over water, such as diving and boat operations.

• Manage high voltage work, including safety measures for buildings with energy generators and high voltage areas.

• Ensure the safety of employees working alone, addressing the nature of the work and potential risks.

• Additional topics within this category include controlling hazardous energy through lockout/tagout procedures, material storage, lifting and handling materials (including crane usage), welding and cutting safety, hot work protocols, compressed gas regulations, explosive material handling, and on-site contractor guidelines.