ISO 45001 for hospitality

Hospitality is physical work. Kitchens have hot oil and sharp tools, housekeeping lifts mattresses and pushes trolleys, service staff walk wet floors for ten hours. Anyone who books your venue or hands you a catering contract wants to know that someone manages these risks on purpose.

The request usually arrives as a line in a supplier questionnaire from a corporate client booking a conference hotel. It also appears in the tender for a staff canteen or event catering, or in the vetting of an event agency or tour operator that subcontracts to you. The question is short: do you hold a certified occupational health and safety management system? A certificate with a number and a QR code answers it in one line.

There is an internal reason too. In a team of twelve, one cook out with a back injury changes the whole rota. A system that prevents the injury is cheaper than the replacement shifts.

• ISO standards for small and medium businesses

The standard does not list hazards for you. It requires you to identify them in your own operation and to deal with them in a set order. In hospitality, the list usually starts with these areas.

Burns and scalds

Fryers, combi steamers, pans, coffee machines and hot water at the dishwash station. Typical controls are guards, heat-resistant gloves and clear routes between stove and pass.

Cuts

Knives, slicers and broken glass at the bar. Controls include cut-resistant gloves, slicer guards and a fixed procedure for clearing glass.

Slips and falls

Wet kitchen floors, mopped corridors, icy terraces and stairs to the cellar. Controls are non-slip footwear, drainage, warning signs and cleaning outside peak service.

Manual handling

Beer kegs, laundry bags, luggage, mattresses and delivery crates. Trolleys, lifting aids and team lifts reduce the load on backs.

Cleaning chemicals

Oven cleaner, descaler and disinfectants in housekeeping and kitchen. The standard asks for safe storage, labelled containers and instruction before first use.

Aggression and night work

Intoxicated guests, late closing and lone staff at reception. Controls cover staffing rules, alarm options and a defined response to aggressive behaviour.

Fire and evacuation

Grease fires, crowded dining rooms and guests who do not know the building. Emergency plans, signage and rehearsed evacuations belong here.

ISO 45001 follows the usual management system structure, from context in clause 4 to improvement in clause 10. The six requirements below carry most of the weight. The table shows what each one means on a working premises.

• Full overview of ISO 45001

You do not need a safety department. In most owner-run hotels and restaurants, the work is done by the owner and the head of kitchen or housekeeping in a few focused sessions.

1. 01

   Walk each area and list the hazards

   Take the kitchen, dishwash, laundry, cellar, bar, rooms, reception and outdoor areas one at a time. Ask staff what has gone wrong or nearly gone wrong.

2. 02

   Write the policy and name responsibilities

   Clause 5 puts health and safety with senior management. The owner signs the policy and names who is in charge of each area.

3. 03

   Plan the controls

   Clause 6 asks you to plan how to deal with the hazards. Rank the list, start with the worst, and set a date and a person for each action.

4. 04

   Put procedures and training in place

   Clause 8 covers daily operation: instruction for new and seasonal staff, chemical handling rules, emergency drills.

5. 05

   Check and keep a record

   Clauses 9 and 10 expect you to review incidents and results and to improve. A simple incident log and one review a year is enough to start.

You answer 34 yes/no questions about your management system. Fourteen of them are mandatory requirements of the standard and must all be answered yes. Of the other 20, at least 14 must be yes to pass. The assessment is free, and you can start it without registration.

After you pass and pay, the certificate arrives within 4 hours. It is issued by G6 Agency AG under licence from SICE, the Swiss Institute of Certification and Education, and SICE reviews every assessment before issue. Each certificate can be verified publicly by its number and QR code, so a buyer can check it without calling you.

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. Billing is an automatic yearly subscription that you can cancel at any time in your customer account, effective at the end of the paid year. Swiss and Liechtenstein customers pay 8.1% VAT, included in these prices. If you add a second standard such as ISO 9001, you get 20% off, 30% from three standards, also on the yearly fee.

• ISO 45001 at Zertify
• Prices and discounts
• Start the free self-assessment

The classic route means an on-site audit by a certification body. The Zertify certificate is based on an online self-assessment, with no auditor visiting your premises, and is confirmed each year by a short online re-audit.

Which route fits depends on who is asking. Many supplier questionnaires only ask for a valid, verifiable certificate. Some tenders prescribe the type of certification. Read the tender text, or ask the purchasing department what they will accept, before you decide.

• Compare the certification routes
• Certification without an on-site audit
• What ISO certification costs