To comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and achieve ISO 45001 certification, your health and safety policy must fulfil specific requirements to document commitments.
These commitments are as follows:
- Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
- Preventing accidents and instances of work-related ill health.
- Managing health and safety risks in the workplace.
- Providing clear and concise instruction, information, and training to ensure employees are competent to do their work.
- Providing personal protective equipment to workers.
- Consulting with employees on matters affecting their health and safety.
- Providing and maintaining safe plant and equipment.
- Ensuring safe handling and use of substances.
- Maintaining safe and healthy working conditions.
- Implementing emergency procedures, including evacuation in case of fire or another significant incident, such as working at height rescue.
ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Standard
- Providing safe and healthy working conditions for the prevention of work-related injury and ill health appropriate to the organisation’s purpose, size and context.
- Providing a framework for setting the OH&S objectives.
- Fulfilling legal requirements and other requirements.
- Eliminating hazards and reducing OH&S risks.
- Continual improvement of the OH&S management system.
- Consultation and participation of workers, and, where they exist, workers’ representatives.
You may notice similarities between commitments. Understanding both requirements can prevent duplication in your health and safety policy.
ISO 45001 requires that your health and safety policy is appropriate to your organisation, considering its nature and OH&S risk levels. It is unnecessary to state this requirement in the policy explicitly, but it should be kept in mind while drafting it. For instance, if your company is in the construction industry, the policy should reference hazards specific to the field rather than office hazards.
Your health and safety policy statement should be no longer than one page. It is unnecessary to provide a detailed plan of execution for every requirement outlined in the health and safety policy; simply stating that all requirements will be met suffices.
Signing and Dating the Health and Safety Policy Statement
The health and safety policy must be signed and dated by the most senior person in the organisation, usually the CEO or Managing Director.