Publication of ISO 45001:2018 Occupational health and safety management systems -- Requirements with guidance for use

Bulletin date:
Bulletin number:
2018-05

Action required

All accredited management systems certification bodies who are currently certifying organizations to OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management must transition those certifications to ISO 45001 by March 12th, 2021. In order to accomplish this, CBs must also ensure that their auditors have the appropriate training and expertise for the new standard.

 

Any other accredited CBs that are interested in obtaining accreditation to certify to the new ISO 45001 should contact their Account Manager about a scope extension.

 

Affected customers

Certification bodies, auditors, and assessors working in the area of occupational health and safety management systems (note that this also includes certification bodies providing unaccredited certification to OHSAS 18001, as that standard is being withdrawn).

 

Background

Over the last three years, ISO has had a working group developing an international standard for occupational health and safety management systems. This new standard is designed to harmonize requirements from various standards already in existence, the most common of which was OHSAS 18001. SCC’s accreditation program for Management System CBs was based on OHSAS 18001, and we will now be transferring to the new ISO 45001 standard.

 

As part of this transition, SCC will be providing training to its existing qualified assessors on the new standard. At the same time, CBs currently accredited for this program should start preparing a transition plan to convert their existing certifications over to ISO 45001.

 

New requirements

In addition to ISO 45001, the following international standards have been developed, as requirements for certification bodies:

  • ISO/IEC PRF TS 17021-10 Conformity assessment -- Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems -- Part 10: Competence requirements for auditing and certification of occupational health and safety management systems (note that this standard is not yet published, but will be imminently)
  • IAF MD 21:2018 Requirements for the Migration to ISO 45001:2018 from OHSAS 18001:2007
  • IAF MD 22:2018 Application of ISO/IEC 17021-1 for the Certification of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OH&SMS)

 

IAF MD21 and MD22 are available here: http://www.iaf.nu/articles/Mandatory_Documents_/38. CBs should take note of these requirements when preparing their transition plans.

 

Deadline

All transitions must be complete by March 12th, 2021. After that date, any OHSAS 18001 certificates issued under SCC accreditation will no longer be valid.

 

Questions?

Please contact Elias Rafoul, Vice President Accreditation Services, at elias.rafoul@scc.ca or +1 613 238 3222 for more information.