18/04/2019 NEWS 0 comment

ISO 45001:2018 MIGRATION

On March 12th 2018 the first international standard for Health and Safety at Work was published: the ISO 45001 standard “Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems – Requirements with guidance for use” which replaces the BS 18001 standard and provides all Organizations with an effective and more complete guide to managing the risks associated with the topic, with the ultimate goal of reducing accidents in the workplace.

The ISO 45001:2018 standard replaces the OHSAS 18001: 2007, which is simultaneously withdrawn, but which continues to be valid during the migration period; it also has the same structure as the “sisters” ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015, in order to allow a simpler and more complete integration of the various Management Systems.

VALIDITY OF OHSAS 18001:2007 ACCREDITED CERTIFICATIONS

For 3 years starting from the date of publication of ISO 45001:2018, certificates issued both against OHSAS 18001:2007 and ISO 45001:2018 will be valid. Three years after the publication of ISO 45001:2018, accredited OHSAS 18001:2007 certificate will no longer be valid. The expiry date of the OHSAS 18001:2007 issued during the migrational period will corrispond to the end of the 3-year migration period. The timing relating to the audit and issuance of the certificate to the new standard must be planned in advance, taking into account both the period of migration and the period of certification in progress.

Organizations certified against the OHSAS 18001:2007 standard are encouraged to implement their management systems according to the new ISO 45001:2018.

MIGRATION OF ACCREDITED CERTIFICATION

ISO 45001 under accreditation may be issued only after the Organization has demonstrated compliance to the new standard to a certification body that has been accredited to issue certificates against it. For the purposes of the migration, ASACERT must conduct an audit at each customer, against ISO 45001.

ASACERT can conduct the migration during a planned surveillance or recertification audit, or a special audit. When migration audits coincide with a planned surveillance or recertification audit, it is reasonable to expect a 20% increase in the audit time, rounded to the upper half day, with a minimum of 1 auditor man-day. Any changes to the audit time, now unforeseeable because they are linked to the specificity of a single Organization, will be promptly communicated to the client in the planning stage of the migration audit, or during its conduction.

PROCESS OF MIGRATION

ASACERT will assess compliance to the new standard with a single audit (as specified above) or, if requested by the customer, through a progressive or staged approach (e.g. assessing compliance during the first audit planned after the date of this communication, and evaluating the implementation of the findings against the new standard during the audit planned for the following year).

ASACERT will ensure, however, clients’ ongoing conformance to OHSAS 18001:2007 through the migration process.