CSA PLUS 45001:19

The first edition of CSA Z45001, Occupational health and safety management systems — Requirements with guidance for use, is an adoption, with Canadian deviations, of the identically titled ISO (International Organization for Standardization) Standard 45001 (first edition, 2018-03).

For brevity, this Standard is referred to as “CSA Z45001” throughout this Application Guide.

Organizations are accountable for occupational health and safety, and workplace parties are responsible for health and safety within their respective control or authority. This Standard provides a model for establishing, implementing, and maintaining an occupational health and safety management system that encourages a systematic approach to meeting defined occupational health and safety objectives and increases awareness of health and safety in the workplace. This Standard can also assist organizations seeking certification under federal, provincial, and sector-based certification programs (e. g., Certificates of Recognition).

An international committee developed the original ISO 45001 standard. Based on a survey of stakeholders from across Canada, CSA Group concluded that while ISO 45001 is both comprehensive and strong, Canadian organizations would benefit from adoption of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard with deviations that reflect the Canadian context of health and safety.

As a fundamental concept and to identify the inclusiveness of an occupational health and safety management system, CSA Z45001 defines “occupational health and safety” as the promotion of the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of workers and the protection of workers from, and the prevention of, workplace conditions and factors adverse to their health and safety.

This Standard was reviewed to align it with the CSA Group Z1000 series of Standards on occupational health and safety management, including the following:

• CSA Z1000, Occupational health and safety management;
• CAN/CSA-Z1001, Occupational health and safety training;
• CAN/CSA-Z1002, Occupational health and safety — Hazard identification and elimination and risk assessment and control;
• CAN/CSA-Z1003, Psychological health and safety in the workplace;
• CSA Z1004, Workplace ergonomics — A management and implementation standard;
• CSA Z1005, Incident investigation;
• CSA Z1006, Management of work in confined spaces;
• CSA Z1007, Hearing loss prevention program (HLPP) management;
• CSA Z1010, Management of work in extreme conditions; and
• CSA Z1600, Emergency and continuity management program.

Significant deviations were made to ISO 45001 to meet the following objectives:

a) to translate international terminology and expressions to occupational health and safety (OH&S) terminology recognized in Canada;

b) to modify the fundamental process for risk assessment and risk control to emphasize the elimination of hazards in accordance with CSA Z1000 and CAN/CSA-Z1002;

c) to recognize workers’ rights to remove themselves from hazardous situations;

d) to recognize the role of worker representatives in determining the OH&S needs of workers;

e) to recognize the requirement to ensure that workers and worker representatives participate in OH&S management decision making; and

f) to recognize that the organization must ensure required PPE and training.

CSA Group developed and published the Standard in compliance with Standards Council of Canada requirements for National Standards of Canada.

Introduction:

This Application Handbook has been developed with the support of CSA Group to provide Canadian organizations (small- and medium-size, for-profit and not-for-profit) and those with international connections with advice on how to best apply CSA Z45001, Occupational health and safety management systems — Requirements with guidance for use. Through this, Canadian organizations (as well as those with foreign ownership operating within Canada) can assess their management systems against the International Standard and assess and demonstrate conformity with CSA Z45001 and the CSA Group Z1000 series of Standards with a unified assessment process. The primary purpose of the Canadian deviations was to align the contents of ISO 45001 with established Canadian Standards. Thus, Canadian organizations can easily adapt the ISO standard into management systems conforming to Canadian Standards. In the future, as CSA Group’s OH&S standards are updated, reference to CSA Z45001 will be added to each eventually linking it to all CSA OH&S standards.

CSA Z45001 is an adoption, with Canadian deviations, of the identically titled ISO 45001 (first edition, 2018-03) developed by the ISO project committee PC283. CSA Group conducted a survey of Canadian stakeholders and concluded that, while ISO 45001 is both comprehensive and strong, Canadian organizations would benefit from adoption of the ISO standard with deviations that reflect the Canadian context of health and safety.

CSA Z45001 provides a model for establishing, implementing, and maintaining an occupational health and safety management system that encourages a systematic approach to meeting defined occupational health and safety objectives and increases awareness of health and safety in the workplace. It can also assist organizations seeking certification under federal, provincial, and sector- based certification programs (e.g., Certificates of Recognition).