ISO 45001:2018 Inspection Checklist
The following points must be further processed before your external ISO 45001 audit certification
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How to Use This Checklist
- Record the information requested at the top so the review has a clear date, owner, and location.
- Work through the checklist section by section with the people responsible for each part of the occupational health and safety management system.
- For each point, select done, almost done, further work needed, or not applicable, and note what still has to be processed.
- Collect the evidence that supports each answer.
- Use the results to close the gaps before the external ISO 45001 certification audit.
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What this checklist is for
This checklist supports preparation for an external ISO 45001 certification audit. Its purpose is to identify the points that must be further processed before that external audit takes place. It follows the structure of an occupational health and safety management system across context, leadership, planning, support, and operation, and is designed to be worked through before the certification audit so that gaps are visible while there is still time to address them.
Why pre-audit preparation matters
The checklist exists because the points it contains have to be processed before the external certification audit. Working through it lets you confirm that your occupational health and safety management system can achieve its intended results, prevent or reduce unwanted effects, and pursue continual improvement.
What the checklist covers
The checklist is organised around the main areas of the management system, and its questions and points fall into the following themes: - **Context of the organisation** - external and internal issues relevant to the purpose of the management system, other interested parties besides workers, their relevant needs and expectations, and which of these become or could become legal and other requirements. It also covers determining the boundaries and applicability of the system, considering planned or performed work-related activities, and providing the scope as documented information. - **Leadership** - demonstrated leadership and commitment, ensuring the policy and objectives are established and aligned with the organisation's strategic direction, integrating system processes into business processes, communicating the importance of the system, and developing a culture that supports it. - **Roles, responsibilities, and authorities** - assigning, communicating, and documenting responsibilities and authorities for relevant roles across all levels, including the authority to ensure the system conforms to ISO 45001 requirements and the responsibility to report on system performance. - **Health and safety policy** - a commitment to safe and healthy working conditions to prevent work-related injury, measures to eliminate hazards and reduce occupational health and safety risks, and a commitment to consultation and participation of workers and their representatives where they exist. - **Consultation and participation of workers** - procedures for consultation and participation at all relevant levels and functions in the development, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the system and in actions for its improvement, including protecting workers from sanctions when they report incidents, hazards, risks, and opportunities. - **Planning** - planning for the management system, including how to fulfil legal and other requirements, how to address risks and opportunities, and which controls apply to outsourcing, procurement, and contractors. It also covers determining what must be monitored, measured, and evaluated, planning an audit programme, and achieving continual improvement. - **Objectives and planning to achieve them** - setting occupational health and safety objectives and planning how to achieve them. - **Support** - information and communication, including determining what must be communicated and how, along with the competence requirements, training needs, and evaluation of training needed for participation. - **Operation** - operational planning and control, the management of change, procurement, contractors, and outsourcing, including determining controls and ensuring their effective implementation and application and investigating incidents and nonconformities to define corrective action. Structural elements woven through several sections include providing mechanisms, time, training, and resources for participation, giving clear and relevant information in good time, and identifying and removing obstacles to participation or minimising those that cannot be removed.
How to conduct the inspection
Carry out the review as a structured walkthrough of your management system rather than a paper exercise. 1. Record who conducted the inspection, when, and where, along with the person who prepared it. 2. Work through each section in order, from context and leadership through planning, support, and operation, involving the people who own each area so answers reflect how the system actually operates. 3. Read the instructions provided at the start of each block before answering the points that follow. 4. For each question, select the answer that reflects the current state, using the available scale of done, almost done, further work needed, and not applicable. 5. For anything not yet done, note what still has to be processed so the point can be closed out before the external audit. 6. Pay particular attention to consultation and participation, since these requirements recur across leadership, planning, and support: check whether workers are consulted and involved, whether they are protected from sanctions when reporting incidents, hazards, risks, and opportunities, and whether mechanisms, time, training, and resources are genuinely provided. 7. Review the completed checklist to confirm the system can achieve its intended results, prevent or reduce unwanted effects, and pursue continual improvement.
Scoring and follow-up
Each point is rated on a simple scale: **done**, **almost done**, **further work needed**, or **not applicable**. The purpose of rating rather than merely ticking items is to surface the points that still require processing before the external ISO 45001 certification audit. Treat every point marked almost done or further work needed as an action to resolve, and use not applicable only where a point genuinely does not apply to your organisation.
Who should use it
This checklist is for anyone responsible for preparing an organisation for an external ISO 45001 certification audit, including those who manage or maintain the occupational health and safety management system and those who need to show how workers and their representatives are consulted and involved.
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