ISO 45001 consulting: when you need it and when you do not

An ISO 45001 consultant translates the standard into your daily operation. He or she looks at your workplaces, your procedures and your records, and builds the missing parts of an occupational health and safety management system. The work follows the structure of the standard, from leadership (clause 5) and planning (clause 6) to operation (clause 8) and performance evaluation (clause 9).

Gap analysis

The consultant compares what you do today with the requirements of the standard and lists what is missing.

Hazard identification and risk assessment

Workplace by workplace, hazards are recorded, rated and linked to controls, from the machine shop to the loading dock.

Policy, roles and procedures

The OH&S policy is drafted, responsibilities of senior management are fixed, and procedures for incidents and emergencies are written.

Worker consultation and training

Workshops and instructions make sure employees take part in safety decisions and know what to do.

Internal audit and management review

The consultant checks the system once before it is assessed and prepares the management review.

• ISO 45001 requirements in detail

Consultants bill by the day. An indicative range for Switzerland is CHF 1,200 to 2,000 per consultant day, depending on the region and the specialist. The number of days depends on company size, number of sites and how much of the system already exists. The figures below are indicative only and vary from one provider to the next.

Consulting fees do not include the audit itself. On the classic route, the certification body charges separately for its on-site audit.

• Guide on certification cost

The standard does not require one. What it requires is that your management takes responsibility for safety, that hazards are assessed and that workers are involved. A company can do all of this itself if someone inside knows the workplaces and has the time.

A consultant pays off in a few clear cases: you have no safety officer and no documented risk assessments, you operate several sites with different hazards, or a major customer has set a deadline and you lack the internal capacity. A consultant also helps if you want a full management system rebuilt, not just certified.

A consultant is hard to justify if your safety work already runs. A construction firm with documented site briefings, incident reports and an appointed safety officer usually has the substance. What it lacks is a recognised certificate to attach to a tender or a supplier questionnaire.

• Compare the certification routes
• ISO for small and medium businesses

The Zertify assessment for ISO 45001 has 34 yes/no questions. 14 of them are mandatory requirements of the standard and must all be answered yes. Among the other 20 questions you need at least 14 yes answers. The questions are written in plain language, so the person responsible for safety can answer them without outside help. If an answer is no, you know which part of your system to fix before you try again.

Once you pass and pay, the certificate is issued within 4 hours. It is issued by G6 Agency AG under licence from SICE, and SICE reviews every assessment before the certificate is released. The PDF carries a number and a QR code, and anyone can check it on the public verification page. That is what a purchasing department or a customer auditor will do first.

The price is CHF 699 (€699) in the first year, then CHF 469 (€469) per year including the yearly online re-audit. The certificate is valid for 3 years and confirmed each year by a short online re-audit. Billing is an automatic yearly subscription that you can cancel at any time to the end of the current year. You do not need an account to buy.

• Start the free self-assessment
• ISO 45001 at Zertify
• Pricing

Internal preparation takes a few focused weeks, not a project plan. These steps cover what the standard asks for.

1. 01

   Name a responsible member of management

   ISO 45001 places health and safety with senior management. Write down who carries it and what that person decides.

2. 02

   Walk through every workplace

   Note hazards before an accident happens: moving machinery, work at height, hazardous substances, forklift traffic, manual handling.

3. 03

   Apply the hierarchy of controls

   For each hazard, ask first whether it can be eliminated or replaced. Technical and organisational measures come next, protective equipment last.

4. 04

   Involve your workers

   Ask employees about hazards they see and record how their input changed a decision.

5. 05

   Plan for emergencies and investigate incidents

   Define who does what in a fire or serious injury. Keep a record of each incident with the cause and the action taken.

• How it works