OHSAS 18001:2007
Occupational health and safety management systems — Requirements
Standard Introduction
OHSAS 18001 was an internationally recognized standard for occupational health and safety management systems. It provided a framework for organizations to identify, control, and reduce workplace hazards while ensuring legal compliance and improving employee safety. As of March 2018, OHSAS 18001 has been superseded by ISO 45001:2018.
Organizations previously certified to OHSAS 18001 had until September 2021 to transition to ISO 45001. The new ISO 45001 standard incorporates a stronger emphasis on leadership engagement, worker participation, risk and opportunity management, and aligns with other ISO management system standards through the High Level Structure (HLS).
Hazard Identification
Systematic approach to identifying workplace hazards, assessing risks, and implementing controls to prevent injury and ill health.
Migration to ISO 45001
OHSAS 18001 was withdrawn in March 2021. Organizations must transition to ISO 45001:2018 to maintain certified OH&S management.
Worker Participation
Emphasizes consultation with workers on occupational health and safety matters, including risk assessment and incident investigation.
list_alt Key OH&S Elements
- OH&S policy and objectives
- Hazard identification and risk assessment
- Legal and other requirements
- Operational control procedures
- Emergency preparedness and response
- Incident investigation and corrective action
- Management review and continual improvement
Who Needs to Comply?
Organizations that were certified to OHSAS 18001 must migrate to ISO 45001:2018. The standard was historically used by manufacturing, construction, mining, and logistics companies.
Key Requirements
Hazard Identification
Establish procedures to identify hazards, assess OH&S risks, and determine necessary controls using the hierarchy of controls (elimination, substitution, engineering, administrative, PPE).
Legal Compliance
Identify and maintain access to applicable OH&S legal requirements. Periodically evaluate compliance with these obligations.
Operational Control
Implement and maintain controls for identified risks including safe work procedures, permit-to-work systems, and contractor management.
Incident Investigation
Investigate incidents and nonconformities to determine root causes, identify corrective actions, and identify opportunities for preventive action and continual improvement.
Implementation Roadmap
Confirm migration and legacy scope
Identify any remaining OHSAS 18001 certificates, contract clauses, supplier requirements, procedures, and audit evidence that still reference the withdrawn standard. Decide whether each reference should be closed, archived, or migrated to ISO 45001.
Map gaps to ISO 45001
Compare the legacy OHSAS 18001 occupational health and safety management system with ISO 45001 expectations for organizational context, worker participation, leadership accountability, risk and opportunity planning, outsourced processes, and documented information.
Update controls and evidence
Refresh hazard identification, legal-obligation tracking, operational controls, emergency preparedness, incident investigation, contractor management, training, internal audit, and management review records so they support the current ISO 45001 management-system model.
Close out OHSAS references
Retire obsolete OHSAS certificates and templates, update procurement and customer-facing compliance statements, and run periodic checks to ensure occupational health and safety evidence points to the current standard.
Compliance Checklist
checklist Transition governance
checklist OH&S controls
checklist Assurance
Penalties & Enforcement
No direct legal penalties for non-certification. OHSAS 18001 certificates are no longer valid after March 2021. Organizations must transition to ISO 45001 or lose their certified status.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is OHSAS 18001 still valid?
expand_more
No. OHSAS 18001 has been withdrawn and replaced by ISO 45001. Accredited OHSAS 18001 certificates are no longer a current certification route, so organizations should treat remaining references as legacy evidence or migration work.
What changed from OHSAS 18001 to ISO 45001?
expand_more
ISO 45001 uses the common ISO management-system structure and places stronger emphasis on organizational context, leadership accountability, worker consultation and participation, risks and opportunities, outsourced processes, and integration with business governance.
Do we need to keep OHSAS 18001 documents?
expand_more
Keep historical documents only where they support legal, insurance, incident-investigation, customer, or audit traceability. Operational procedures should be updated to the current occupational health and safety management-system standard.
Can OHSAS 18001 evidence help with ISO 45001?
expand_more
Yes. Hazard registers, legal-compliance evaluations, incident investigations, internal audits, training records, and management reviews can often be reused after updating them for ISO 45001 terminology and additional requirements.
What should suppliers do if a customer still asks for OHSAS 18001?
expand_more
Explain that the standard has been superseded, provide current ISO 45001 certification where available, and update contract language so future compliance references point to active standards.
Official Documentation
OHSAS 18001:2007 (en)
PDF • 2.2 MB • English • Superseded
Transition to ISO 45001
External Link • iso.org • Migration Guide
ISO 45001 Migration Pack
ZIP • 12 MB • Gap Analysis & Transition Templates