Quality & operations
ISO 45001
ISO 45001 (Occupational health & safety)
ISO 45001 is the global standard for an occupational health and safety management system. We support the management-system, documentation and audit-readiness work and coordinate the external certification body, partnering with health and safety specialists where needed.
What ISO 45001 is
ISO 45001 is the international standard for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system. It requires you to identify hazards, assess and control risks to workers, consult your people, meet your legal obligations, and run the whole thing as a managed system with leadership, internal audit and management review aimed at preventing injury and ill health.
Certification is awarded by an independent, accredited certification body following a two-stage audit, not by a consultancy. tr3labs supports the management-system, governance and audit-readiness side and partners with occupational health and safety specialists for technical risk assessments; we do not provide specialist safety engineering expertise ourselves.
The structure of the standard
Clause 4 · Context of the organisation
You establish the scope of the OH&S management system and understand the needs of workers and other interested parties.
Clause 5 · Leadership and worker participation
Top management takes accountability for occupational health and safety, and workers are consulted and allowed to participate rather than treated as passive subjects.
Clause 6 · Planning
You identify hazards, assess OH&S risks and opportunities, address legal obligations, and set measurable objectives.
Clause 7 · Support
You provide the resources, competence, awareness, communication and documented information the system needs to run.
Clause 8 · Operation
You put operational controls in place, apply a hierarchy of controls to eliminate hazards, and plan for emergencies.
Clause 9 · Performance evaluation
You monitor, measure, audit internally and hold management reviews to judge whether the system is working.
Clause 10 · Improvement
You investigate incidents, correct nonconformities and improve the system over time, closing the Plan-Do-Check-Act loop.
Who needs it
- Organisations with workforce health and safety risks they need to manage and evidence
- Employers whose customers, tenders or regulators expect a recognised OH&S certificate
- Teams that want a durable system for preventing injury and ill health at work
What you get
- A gap assessment and prioritised roadmap against ISO 45001
- OH&S management-system documentation, a hazard and risk register and objectives
- An internal audit programme and management review records
- Certification readiness and support through the external audit
Timelines depend on the size of your organisation, the nature of your workplace risks and your starting point. We scope it honestly up front rather than promise a fixed number of weeks.
Current version
The current edition is ISO 45001:2018, the first international standard for occupational health and safety management, which replaced the earlier OHSAS 18001 specification. Organisations that held OHSAS 18001 were given a migration window to transition, which has since closed, so ISO 45001:2018 is now the reference point for new and continuing certifications. No superseding edition has been published, though ISO standards are reviewed on a periodic cycle, so a future revision is possible; we work to the published 2018 text and will flag any confirmed change.
What it costs
Two costs usually sit side by side. tr3labs charges a scoped advisory and implementation fee, quoted up front once we understand your size, the nature of your workplace risks and your starting point. Because ISO 45001 is a certifiable standard, the independent accredited certification body that runs the Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits and issues the certificate charges separately on its own schedule, and the surveillance audits that follow carry their own recurring fee; tr3labs is never that certification body or auditor. We scope the work with you rather than quote blind.
How tr3labs gets you there
Scope and gap assessment
We define the management-system scope, help identify hazards and legal obligations, map your current state against ISO 45001, and hand you a prioritised roadmap.
Build the management system
We help you produce the documentation, define objectives and operational controls, and set up the worker consultation and risk processes the standard expects. We focus on the management system and partner with safety specialists where technical assessment is needed.
Internal audit and evidence
We run internal audits and a management review so the system is operating and evidenced before an external auditor arrives.
Certification support
We prepare you for the Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits by your chosen accredited certification body and support you through to the certificate and the surveillance cycle that follows. tr3labs is not the certification body.
ISO 45001 vs ISO 9001
Both share the same Annex SL clause structure and are often run as one integrated management system, which is why they get confused.
| ISO 45001 | ISO 9001 | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | Worker health and safety | Product and service quality |
| Core idea | Prevent injury and ill health | Consistently meet customer requirements |
| Who asks for it | Regulators, insurers, safety-conscious clients | Customers and procurement tenders |
| Risk focus | Hazards to people at work | Risks to quality and conformity |
| Audit model | Two-stage audit plus surveillance | Two-stage audit plus surveillance |
| Often held with | ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 | ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 |
ISO 45001 FAQ
- How much does ISO 45001 certification cost?
- Our scoped advisory and implementation fee is quoted up front; because ISO 45001 is certifiable, the accredited certification body that runs the Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits and issues the certificate charges separately, and the surveillance audits that follow carry their own recurring fee.
- How long does ISO 45001 take?
- It depends on the size of your organisation, the nature of your workplace risks and your starting point. We scope the timeline honestly up front rather than promise a fixed number of weeks.
- Does tr3labs provide specialist safety engineering expertise?
- No. tr3labs supports the management-system, documentation, internal audit and audit-readiness work. For technical risk assessments and specialist safety matters we partner with occupational health and safety specialists.
- Can ISO 45001 integrate with ISO 9001 or ISO 14001?
- Yes. These standards share a common structure, so an occupational health and safety system can be run alongside quality and environmental systems as an integrated whole. We design the system that way where it helps you.
- Does tr3labs issue the ISO 45001 certificate?
- No. Certification is awarded by an independent, accredited certification body after a two-stage audit. tr3labs builds and runs the management system with you, prepares the evidence, and supports you through the audit.
Related standards
Related reading
The OWASP LLM Top 10, Explained: A Plain-English Guide for Teams Shipping AI Features
A clear, practical walkthrough of the OWASP Top 10 risks for large language model applications, with a plain-English description and a concrete mitigation for each, aimed at teams adding AI features for the first time.
9 min read
How to Read a Penetration Test (VAPT) Report: A Plain-English Guide for Teams
A practical walkthrough of what goes into a penetration test report, section by section, so founders and engineering teams can read one with confidence and act on what it says.
8 min read
SOC 2 vs ISO 27001: an honest comparison to help you choose
A plain-English guide to the real differences between SOC 2 and ISO 27001: what each one is, who asks for which, how the audits work, what you end up holding, and whether you should do both.
8 min read