ISO 45001 – Clause 6.1.4: Planning Action

ISO 45001:2018, the Occupational Health and Safety Management System standard was published in early March 2018. This is the twelfth in a series of blogs, in which we describe what the implementing company must do in order to meet the requirement of the standard. We will continue to look at clause 6.1: Actions to address risks and opportunities.

Clause 6.1.4: Planning Action

The organisation should ensure that specific plans are in place to:

• Address risks and opportunities that have been assessed as requiring further action;
• Address legal and other requirements;
• Prepare for and respond to emergency situations.

The actions planned should primarily be managed through the OH&S management system and where appropriate, should involve integration with other business processes and/or management systems such as quality, environment, business continuity, risk management and financial or human resource management.

When planning to take action the organisation should take into account the hierarchy of controls common to risk management, which are detailed in section 8.1.2 of the standard and outputs from the OH&S management system.

The actions planned can include establishing objectives (reference section 6.2 of the standard) or incorporating the action into other OHSMS processes such as documented procedures or improved competence.

Actions to address risks and opportunities should also be considered under clause 8.1.3: management of change to ensure that there are no unintended consequences arising from the actions taken.

Finally, the organisation needs to evaluate the effectiveness of these actions.