OH&S Manager: Understand the Role of Manager According to ISO 45001 Standard

The foundation of any business's operations is health and safety. It guards the welfare of workers, promotes harmony and productivity at work, and preserves the good name of a company. The winds of regulation, industrial innovation, and company management techniques constantly churn Health and Safety. As a result, management system models must be updated to enable organizations to satisfy their duties to their people, stay in compliance, and help the organization achieve its goals. The goal of ISO 45001 for Occupational Health and Safety Management System Standard is to lower the number of workplace accidents and occupational diseases. It was published in March 2018.  All organizations, regardless of size, sector, or type of business, can use ISO 45001. It adheres to the same high-level structure as other ISO management system standards, such as ISO 9001 Quality Management and ISO 14001 Environmental Management, and is intended to be integrated into an organization's current management processes.

There tends to be an internal OH&S manager in most organizations that have an OHSMS (Operational Health and Safety Management System) certified per ISO 45001:2018. Only "top management" and the individuals who will be designated as being "responsible" for tasks within the OHSMS itself are mentioned in the ISO 45001 standard, which makes no specific reference to a position's requirements. However, many businesses in industries requiring a high level of operational health and safety (OH&S) expertise and proficiency will typically look to hire a specialist manager with the necessary experience and credentials for the role. Given that this is the situation, what abilities and skills should an OH&S Manager possess to ensure that the company is in compliance with ISO 45001 and that it can provide top-notch OH&S performance?

The OH&S Manager in many organizations might be required to possess some pertinent credentials, as is the case with many management jobs. Different countries may require varied OH&S qualifications, ranging from college degrees to OHSAS Manager Training, experience, and more. Although having official qualifications does not ensure success, many major organizations prefer to have a qualified OH&S manager represent the business and interact with stakeholders since it is thought to lend the organization more legitimacy. What fundamental abilities ought the OH&S manager to possess, qualifications or not? Let's look at:

• Knowledge of legislation: The OH&S manager will need to understand how to identify and comply with legal requirements because the OHSMS will be strongly dependent on that.
• Good assessor of risk: It may seem obvious, but this is crucial. A manager with a strong experience in risk assessment and an excellent eye for detail is essential to ensuring that a business can foster a culture of hazard recognition and accident prevention.
• Good communication skills: Depending on the scale of the organization, senior management and employees may be connected through OH&S. As a result, he or she must have good downward and upward communication skills.
• Leadership skills: The OH&S manager will need the proper leadership abilities to guarantee that the internal and legislative health and safety regulations and processes are taken seriously, followed by employees, and improved upon whether they are formally a part of "top management" or not.

What Role does the OH&S manager have to fulfill?

The answer to this question can vary somewhat depending on the size of the organization, but typically, the OH&S manager will be responsible for the following duties:

• Definitive responsibility for the OH&S performance of the organization
• Responsibility for policy decisions and planned direction that the organization may undertake in terms of OH&S
• Communication of all suitable information to stakeholders, internal and external
• Confirming that consultation takes place internally to ensure processes are safe and decisions that are made are as well-informed as possible
• Responsibility for ensuring the organization meets all judicial requirements
• Responsibility for all assignments and specification of duties, roles, and responsibilities to ensure clarity in terms of how the OHSMS works
• Duty to organize periodic testing and try out emergency concepts
• Organizing continual monitoring over “near missed” unsafe circumstances and on-time investigation of incidents that have already occurred
• Confirming that measuring and review take place to enable continual improvement to occur

As a result, the OH&S manager is typically in charge of delivering all OHSMS components and overseeing the system's performance, which may appear odd considering that the function is not at all specified in the ISO 45001 standard. The OH&S manager is typically located directly at the center of an organization's OH&S function, despite this. You can go a long way towards ensuring the right person is directing the OH&S performance of your organization if you make sure the OH&S manager possesses the set of abilities indicated above and is aware of the role he or she must play. For the safety and health of your business, as well as the happiness of your workers, that can only be good news.

Source: https://iso45001procedure.wordpress.com/2023/08/05/ohs-manager-understand-the-role-of-manager-according-to-iso-45001-standard/