BS ISO 45003:2021 Occupational health and safety management

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What is BS ISO 45003:2021 about?

In human and financial terms, psychological ill-health is the costliest area of occupational health and safety (OH&S) yet few organizations actually have any in-house expertise in this area.

To help organizations prioritize people by supporting the mental health of workers, BS ISO 45003:2021 provides simple, practical guidance on how to manage the psychosocial hazards that arise in the work environment and that challenge health, safety and well-being at work.

Who is BS ISO 45003:2021 for?

It’s aimed at all types and sizes of organization, across all sectors. Specific users will include:

• Line managers
• HR staff
• Business owners
• CEOs and board members

What does BS ISO 45003:2021 cover?

It gives guidelines for managing psychosocial risk within an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system based on BS ISO 45001:2018. It enables organizations to prevent the work-related injury and ill health of their workers and other interested parties, and to promote well-being at work. It covers the development, implementation, maintenance and continual improvement of healthy and safe workplaces.

NOTE 1: BS ISO 45003:2021 aligns with and will help BS ISO 45001 users to manage psychological as well as physical health and safety. However, given that many organizations struggle with this, the standard has been written so that non-users of BS ISO 45001 can still follow the advice given.

Why should you use BS ISO 45003:2021?

This new standard is a tool that anyone can use to prioritize the people in their organization. It helps identify where psychosocial risks arise and how they can be mitigated or eliminated, and can help you to develop expertise, increase people’s trust and manage risk better. Organizations can prevent work-related ill-health and benefit from:

• Improved worker engagement
• Enhanced productivity and higher levels of discretionary effort
• Increased innovation
• Greater organizational resilience and legal compliance

Conversely, the costs of not prioritizing people and their psychosocial health can be:

• Poor health, including cardiovascular disease and musculoskeletal disorders
• Poor health behaviours, including substance abuse and unhealthy eating
• Reduced job satisfaction, commitment and performance
• Increased absence from workplace stress, burnout, anxiety and depression
• Higher costs for the organization due to negative impacts on turnover, productivity, quality, training and recruitment
• Higher costs from workplace investigations, litigation and reputational damage