How the ISO 45001 OHS Management System Helps with Emergency Preparedness

Organisations need to realise the value of the ISO 45001 certification for their occupational health and safety (OHS) management system. Besides aiding the organisations to ensure their workers’ welfare or safety with many regulatory workplace practices, a certified OHS management system helps to manage emergency situations.

Emergencies in occupational places can be attributed to natural causes, technical failures, and man-made events (i.e. negligence). Work-related hazards or risks can occur on-site, within and outside working hour. As a result, emergency plans and measures must be an integral part of your OHS management system. The ISO 45001 standard is considered the most significant benchmark for workers’ safety management as it includes a clause for emergency preparedness and actions.

Here are further details on how an ISO certified OHS management system can help with emergency preparedness and response. An group of expert ISO 45001 consultants, who have wealth of experiences in occupational emergencies, and assist you in implementing your system.

Key Processes for Emergency Response Include the Following Steps:

• Establish a general planned sequence of actions for all emergency circumstances. It also includes the provision of medical care or first aid.

• Educate and train the workers about the decided actions for a planned response in any emergency. Communicate to them the relevant emergencies and provide all necessary information regarding their roles or responsibilities.

• Periodically review or check the organisation’s ability to respond to extreme emergency situations.

• Evaluate the work processes and all workstations meticulously and even test mechanical systems or devices for probable risks. Following the evaluation, you need to write the potential emergency incidents, chances of their occurrences, costs or damages they can cause and planned actions to overcome them.

• Communicate your emergency situations to the suppliers, partners, distributing agents and every other interested party. Since any unforeseen incidents in the workplace can damage the production or general business processes, it is essential to keep everyone in the supply chain informed.

• Take into account any non-compliance or violations of local and international occupational safety regulations. Emergency response plans also include the actions that are necessary for dealing with unforeseen lawsuits, penalties, fines, or damage to corporate reputation.

The ISO 45001 standard calls for inclusion of all these measures for your emergency preparedness. However, what are the key elements needed to execute an emergency response plan?

Elements included in Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans

• Details of the mitigation actions that should be taken by workers, management executives, and any personnel of the organisation

• Evacuation procedures

• Reporting system or procedures for communicating the incident to the concerned department

• Organisational management role with specific personnel such as first aid staff, fireguards, emergency response team (ERT)

• Interface and modes of communication with external emergency services providers

• Communication with regulatory authorities

• Provisions of emergency response kits, materials, or equipment

• Reviewing the situation following the recovery actions

• Documented records of all emergency situations, preparedness, and responses

With the pandemic COVID-19 affecting businesses or workplaces so much today, emergency preparedness has become an extremely crucial part of the OHS management system of organisations. From implementing social distancing norms to providing safety or protection to employees who are in the frontline services, every organisation needs to ensure employees they have handled the pandemic with their emergency preparedness.

However, there is no ‘one size fits all’ concept for emergency preparedness because different businesses face unique occupational risks and crises. Achieving the ISO 45001 certification makes it necessary for the organisation to “to establish, implement and maintain a process to prepare for emergency situations and to respond if they occur,” under its clause 8.2. It does not specify which processes or how. As a result, every organisation needs to have its own tailored action plans or preparedness for occupational emergencies.