Occupational health and safety is the discipline, and the management system, aimed at stopping workplace injuries and illness. Hazards are identified, controls are put in place, and the result is checked. An employer can be audited against a written standard for that system.
The standard most often named for that audit is published by the International Standards Organization (ISO). The standard states what the management system must contain. The employer builds the system. A certification body then audits it.
What the System Has to Include
- Hazards. The ways people can be hurt or made ill by the work are listed.
- Controls. Each serious hazard has a control, and the control is actually used.
- Investigation. An injury or a near miss is examined, and the control is changed if it failed.
The Management System and a Single Rule
| Compared | The Management System | A Single Safety Rule |
| Scope | How the employer finds hazards and checks controls | One required practice, such as a guard or a permit |
| An audit | Tests whether the system is in place and followed | Tests whether that one practice happened |
| A new hazard | The system is supposed to pick it up | Invisible until someone writes a rule for it |