ISO 45001 for mechanical engineering

A quote from a machine builder passes through the customer's purchasing department before an engineer reads it. The supplier questionnaire has a line on occupational health and safety. If you cannot answer it with a document, the quote can stall there.

Tenders from larger industrial customers go further. They want to know how you protect your own people in the workshop and how you manage them when they install, commission or service a machine on the customer's premises. A certificate gives the buyer a short answer to both questions.

The same requests come from the other direction. If you buy turned parts, welded frames or surface treatment from subcontractors, you will ask them for the same evidence. A customer audit then looks at your hazard assessments, your training records and what you did after the last near miss.

• ISO 45001 at a glance

The standard does not hand you a list of hazards. It requires you to find your own, rate them and act on them before someone is hurt. A mechanical engineering company has plenty to find.

Moving and rotating parts

Lathes, milling machines, presses and robot cells. The risk rises when a guard is opened or bypassed for setup.

Unexpected start-up

Maintenance or cleaning on a machine whose energy supply has not been isolated and locked.

Lifting and internal transport

Overhead cranes, heavy workpieces on slings, forklifts sharing aisles with people on foot.

Fluids, dust and fumes

Coolant mist, oil on floors, grinding dust, swarf and welding fumes.

Noise and vibration

Grinding, hammering, compressors and hand-held tools used for hours at a time.

Stored energy and site work

Hydraulic and pneumatic pressure, loaded springs, and installation or commissioning at a customer's plant with unfamiliar surroundings.

ISO 45001 follows the same chapter structure as other ISO management standards. The table shows where the main requirements sit and what they can look like on a workshop floor.

The hierarchy of controls ranks measures from most to least effective. Take an operator who reaches into the machining area to clear swarf. The five steps then read as follows.

1. 01

   Eliminate

   A chip conveyor carries the swarf out, so nobody has to reach into the machining area.

2. 02

   Substitute

   Replace a coolant that forms heavy mist with one that forms less.

3. 03

   Engineering controls

   An interlocked door stops the spindle when it is opened, and extraction on the enclosure removes the mist.

4. 04

   Administrative controls

   A lockout procedure for maintenance, setup instructions at the machine and a training record for every operator.

5. 05

   Personal protective equipment

   Safety glasses, hearing protection and cut-resistant gloves for handling swarf. They come last, because they protect only the person wearing them.

You complete an online self-assessment with 34 yes/no questions. Fourteen of them are mandatory requirements of the standard and all must be answered yes. Of the other 20 questions, at least 14 must be yes. The person who knows the workshop best, whether managing director, production manager or safety officer, should answer.

SICE reviews every assessment. The certificate is issued by G6 Agency AG under licence from SICE, within 4 hours after you have passed and paid. It carries a number and a QR code. Your customer's purchasing department can check it on the public verification page 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. The yearly subscription renews automatically and you can cancel at any time in your customer account, effective at the end of the current year. After cancellation the certificate ends with the paid year. Prices include 8.1% Swiss VAT for customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. You do not need an account to buy. If you certify a second standard, such as ISO 9001, you get 20% off, and 30% from three standards, also on the yearly fee.

• ISO 45001 standard page
• Pricing
• Start the free self-assessment

The classic route with an on-site audit by a certification body suits companies whose customers name that route in writing. The Zertify certificate rests on an online self-assessment, has no on-site audit and is confirmed every year by a short online re-audit.

Read the exact wording of your tender or supplier questionnaire before you decide. Most ask for a valid ISO 45001 certificate that they can verify. Where a document demands an on-site audit, you will see it there.

Whichever route you take, the certificate is only as good as the system behind it. Guards that are fitted, locks that are used and near misses that are written down are what a customer audit will find.

• Compare the certification routes
• Certification without an on-site audit
• ISO for small and medium businesses