ISO committee TC 283 has begun a Systematic Review of ISO 45001 that is expected to be completed in early 2027. Clause 6 on Planning is one of the key areas of focus for the committee. Once the systematic review is complete a revision will be finalized and the current version of the standard (ISO 45001:2018) will be repealed.

The revision process offers the opportunity to incorporate changes to the ISO High Level Structure (HLS). It also provides an opportunity to review areas of the standard that have caused confusion for users since it was first published in 2018. One of these areas is Clause 6, the planning part of the management system standard. This section is currently over 1100 words and three pages long. User have complained about confusing terms including risk, opportunity, OHS hazard OHS risk, other risks and other opportunities.

Simplify and Clarify Clause 6

For some users, these confusing terms make it difficult to comprehend what the standard is supposed to be managing. It also duplicates of requirements in other parts of the ISO 45001 standard. One proposal to simplify and clarify clause 6 would reduce the number of words from 1100 to a little over 300. Comments from other committee members of this proposal rang from “this is great, all standards should be this concise” to “this goes way too far and should not be considered”.

Make a Fresh Start

The concept is to begin the review clause 6 revision process with an almost clean sheet of paper and build on the text from there. If committee members believe that additional text is needed they should justly the addition including:

• Why the addition is needed in the requirement part of the standard and not as guidance in the annex part of the standard
• A description of what evidence auditors should look for a conformance to the requirement
• It does not duplicate another requirement somewhere else in the standard.

If the additional desired text is more guidance than requirement it should be placed in the annex of the standard, not in the requirements part or perhaps, in an entirely different document like ISO 45002.

Reduce Confusing Terms

The streamlining proposal also clarifies what ISO 45001 is supposed to be managing by eliminating some confusing terms in clause 6. Terms like “Risk and Opportunity, “other risk” and “other opportunity” and replacing them with the term “OHS Hazard Risk”. This proposal for streamlining and simplifying clause 6 is already controversial with some members. It is likely to be hotly debated over the next few months as the ISO 45001 revision process gathers momentum in committee meetings later this fall..