ISO 45001 Software: How Safety Software Can Help You Conform to ISO 45001

How do you achieve and maintain conformity with the ISO 45001 standard? The best way, as many companies have found, is by using a safety management software system or ISO 45001 software. Safety management software can help you proactively identify hazards, increase worker participation, enhance visibility, and improve management accountability. It can also help you keep track of all the information you’ll need to demonstrate compliance if your organization decides to pursue ISO 45001 certification.

Let’s take a closer look at a few of the ways safety software can support your ISO 45001 initiative.

Audits and inspections

Audits and inspections are an important tool in your ISO 45001 toolbox. Regular inspections can help identify potential hazards and opportunities for safety improvement. However, many companies are still using paper and spreadsheets to complete assessments, which wastes time and creates inaccuracies.

Safety software simplifies all types of assessments, such as JHAs and risk assessments. Instead of having to record the results on paper and re-key them back at the office, assessments can be completed on any phone or tablet. Results are synced to the centralized system for analysis and reporting. With all your audit and inspection results at your fingertips, you can easily identify the most pressing issues and prioritize your mitigation efforts. Assessment results can even trigger corrective actions, ensuring that potential hazards are addressed in a timely fashion.

Near-miss and incident reporting

As part of the ISO 45001 requirements, employees should be involved in identifying and reporting hazards and safety concerns. By using modern safety software, employers can increase worker participation and encourage reporting. How?

Mobile apps make it easier for any employee to report near misses and incidents in the field. Any employee with a mobile phone or tablet can easily log an issue, add an image, suggest a corrective action, and click submit. Some apps, like Lisam’s ComplyStation, allow workers to report concerns anonymously. Because workers don’t have to reveal their identity, issues can be submitted for investigation and action without fear of retaliation.

Investigations and corrective actions

Under ISO 45001, organizations are required to establish a process to handle incidents and non-conformities. If an employee gets injured, for example, you must quickly determine what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent it from happening in the future.

To do this effectively, you need to move beyond paper forms and email and start using safety software that can not only record incidents and non-conformities, but also make this information visible across the organization. Software allows you to view and analyze issues in dynamic dashboards for deeper insights. During an investigation, corrective and preventive actions can be assigned and tracked through to closure. And, should actions not be completed on time, need-to-know staff will be notified automatically. This ensures that issues are handled swiftly to prevent future occurrences.

Transparency and accountability

Management involvement and accountability is another important element of ISO 45001. But when your safety data is siloed in spreadsheets, that becomes impossible.

With safety management software, company leaders will have full visibility into what’s happening across the company. Personalize dashboard views to quickly locate information needed such as total number of incidents, incident type and location, and root cause. Or, generate management-ready reports in seconds using information captured in real-time. Armed with better data, executives and safety managers can make informed decisions that move the needle on safety.

Your next steps

Whether you’re implementing an ISO 45001 management system or pursuing certification, safety management software can make the entire process easier.

If you’re already using EHS software, the good news is you don’t need to go out and purchase a new system specifically for ISO 45001. Most vendors will be happy to show you how you can leverage your current system to achieve your objectives. If you’re not using an EHS software system, now is the time to implement one. Request a demo today!