ISO 45001 process: from self-assessment to verifiable certificate

Zertify certifies occupational health and safety management against ISO 45001:2018. The route from first click to certificate is short, and each step has a clear result.

1. 01

   Collect your records

   Put your hazard assessment, OH&S policy, emergency plan and incident records within reach. The questions refer to what you actually have in place.

2. 02

   Open the self-assessment

   It runs in your browser. It is free and needs no account.

3. 03

   Answer 34 yes/no questions

   Answer for your workplace as it is today, not as you plan it to be. The questions follow the requirements of ISO 45001:2018.

4. 04

   Pass the assessment

   All 14 mandatory questions must be answered yes. Of the other 20 questions, at least 14 must be yes.

5. 05

   Review and payment

   SICE reviews your assessment. After you have passed and paid, G6 Agency AG issues the certificate under licence from SICE, within 4 hours.

6. 06

   Use the certificate

   You receive a PDF with a certificate number and a QR code. Attach it to a quote, a tender or a supplier questionnaire.

• Start the free self-assessment

The assessment asks about practice, so the preparation is mostly looking at what your business already does. Six topics come up again and again, and they mirror the key requirements of ISO 45001.

Hazard identification

A current list of hazards and how you rate them (clause 6). Think of machinery, working at height, hazardous substances, manual handling.

OH&S policy

A written policy with a commitment to prevention, signed off by senior management (clause 5).

Worker consultation

Evidence that employees are asked and heard on safety matters, for example meeting notes or a safety committee (clause 5).

Controls

Measures ranked from eliminating a hazard down to personal protective equipment (clause 8).

Emergency preparedness

A plan for fire, accidents and evacuation, with roles named and practised (clause 8).

Incident investigation

A record of incidents and near misses, with the actions that followed (clause 10).

The questions are split into two groups, and the pass rule treats them differently. A strong score in one group cannot make up for a gap in the other.

A no on a mandatory question means that requirement is not yet met in your business. Put it in place first, then answer again. Do not answer yes to reach the threshold: the assessment is reviewed before any certificate is issued, and the certificate is only worth something if your answers are true.

14 mandatory questions

Each one covers a requirement of the standard that cannot be skipped. All 14 must be answered yes.

20 further questions

These cover the wider management system. You need at least 14 yes answers among them.

After you pass, SICE reviews the assessment. Payment follows, and G6 Agency AG then issues the certificate under licence from SICE. The time from passing and payment to certificate is 4 hours at most.

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, which you can cancel at any time in your customer account, effective at the end of the current year. If you cancel, the certificate ends with the paid year. Customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein pay prices that include 8.1% VAT. You can buy without creating an account.

If you certify against two standards, you get 20% off, and with three or more standards 30%, also on the yearly fee.

• See the pricing
• How Zertify works

Every Zertify certificate is listed publicly. A purchasing department enters the certificate number on the verification page, or scans the QR code on your PDF, and sees whether the certificate is valid.

Each year you confirm your status in a short online re-audit, which is part of the yearly fee. There is no auditor visit and no appointment to arrange.

The classic route means an on-site audit by a certification body. Some customers and tenders ask for exactly that, so check the requirement before you choose. The figures below for the classic route are indicative and vary by provider and company size.

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

ISO 45001 matters most where people work with physical hazards: production, construction and trades, logistics and transport, the chemical industry, healthcare. If a customer asks for proof of your safety management in a supplier questionnaire, a certificate you can attach to your reply is often what closes the question.

The process suits you if your safety practice is already in place and you need to document it quickly. It does not replace the work itself: the questions only come out yes if hazard assessments, emergency plans and incident records exist.

The standard page lists the requirements in full. The pricing page shows the yearly fee, and the assessment tells you where you stand.

• ISO 45001 in detail
• Pricing
• Start the self-assessment