ISO 45001 Occupational Health & Safety Checklist Template

Phase 1: Context, Scope & Policy

The first task asks the scope questions. Its answers switch on the contractor tasks in Phase 4 and the certification phase.

• Open the year’s OH&S management system record — record the sites in scope, the certificate held and the certification body’s audit dates
• Review internal and external issues — including whether climate change is a relevant issue, as Amd 1:2024 requires (clause 4.1)
• Update the needs and expectations of workers and other interested parties — and record which of them the system will address (clause 4.2)
• Confirm the scope still matches the work — new sites, activities, shift patterns or remote workers since last year (clause 4.3)
• Review the OH&S policy with top management — the commitments to eliminate hazards, meet legal requirements and consult workers still stand (clause 5.2)
• Confirm OH&S roles, responsibilities and authorities are assigned — and understood by the people holding them, not only drawn on a chart (clause 5.3)

Phase 2: Worker Consultation & Participation

Clause 5.4 names non-managerial workers in both consultation and participation. Keep evidence of each.

• Confirm the consultation and participation mechanisms — committee, representatives, briefings, with the time, training and resources to use them (clause 5.4)
• Identify barriers to participation and remove them — language, literacy, shift patterns, agency status or fear of reprisal
• Consult non-managerial workers on this year’s decisions — policy, objectives, contractor controls, what is monitored and the audit programme
• Record worker participation in hazard, control and incident decisions — names and dates, not a general statement
• Test the hazard and incident reporting route — reports are acknowledged and acted on, and nobody who reports faces reprisal (clause 5.1)
• Hold and minute health and safety committee meetings where one exists — attendance, decisions and actions with owners

Phase 3: Hazards, Risks & Legal Requirements

• Review hazard identification across routine and non-routine work — maintenance, start-up, breakdowns, emergencies and people on site who are not employees (clause 6.1.2.1)
• Include psychosocial hazards — workload, work hours, harassment, bullying, leadership and culture are named in the standard
• Reassess OH&S risks and risks to the management system — record every rating that changed, and why (clause 6.1.2.2)
• Record OH&S opportunities — changes to work, equipment or organisation that would improve OH&S performance (clause 6.1.2.3)
• Update the register of legal and other requirements — new legislation, regulator guidance, client and contract requirements (clause 6.1.3)
• Plan action on significant risks, legal requirements and emergencies — as objectives, operational controls or training (clause 6.1.4)

Phase 4: Objectives & Operational Control

The contractor and outsourcing tasks appear only when Phase 1 records that contractors or outsourced processes operate within scope.

• Set measurable OH&S objectives — each with an owner, resources, a deadline and the indicator that tracks it (clause 6.2)
• Check each new or revised control against the hierarchy — elimination and substitution before engineering, administrative controls and PPE (clause 8.1.2)
• Run changes through management of change — new equipment, processes, sites, staffing or legal requirements assessed before they happen (clause 8.1.3)
• Verify contractor controls — OH&S selection criteria, site induction, reviewed risk assessments and method statements, and monitoring (clause 8.1.4.2)
• Confirm outsourced functions and processes are controlled — and that the arrangements meet legal requirements (clause 8.1.4.3)
• Check competence for safety-critical roles — every gap has a named person and a training date (clause 7.2)

Phase 5: Emergencies & Incidents

The first task asks whether any incident this year had to be reported to a regulator. If Yes, the notification check appears.

• Review the year’s incidents and near misses — each was reported, recorded and investigated in proportion to its severity (clause 10.2)
• Check investigations found causes, not culprits — and asked whether similar incidents have occurred or could occur
• Confirm corrective actions followed the hierarchy of controls — risks from new or changed hazards assessed before acting, and effectiveness reviewed
• Confirm regulator notifications were made on time — for example to OSHA within 8 hours of a work-related death in the US, or under RIDDOR in Great Britain
• Communicate incident findings to workers and their representatives — the standard requires it, and it is what keeps people reporting
• Exercise the emergency plan — run a drill or test, record what failed and revise the plan (clause 8.2)

Phase 6: Performance Evaluation & Management Review

The OH&S lead prepares the inputs. Top management holds and signs off the review.

• Analyse monitoring results — leading and lagging indicators against the objectives set in Phase 4 (clause 9.1)
• Evaluate compliance with each legal and other requirement — at the frequency you set, with action where one is not met (clause 9.1.2)
• Complete the internal audit programme — every clause and site covered at the planned intervals, with workers consulted on the programme (clause 9.2)
• Report relevant audit results to workers and their representatives — not only to management
• Hold the management review — inputs include incidents, audit results, compliance evaluation, worker consultation, resources and objectives (clause 9.3)
• Communicate the relevant review outputs to workers — decisions, resources and changes to the system
• Log every nonconformity and improvement action — with an owner, due date and effectiveness check (clauses 10.2 and 10.3)