Planning
We drive hazard identification, risk assessment, legal compliance and clear health and safety objectives
What this element is and why it matters
Clause 6 is the analytical engine of ISO 45001. It covers the actions to address risks and opportunities in clause 6.1, which itself includes hazard identification in clause 6.1.2, legal and other requirements in clause 6.1.3 and planning action in clause 6.1.4, together with the health and safety objectives and the plans to achieve them in clause 6.2. This is where hazard analysis through HAZOP, LOPA and job safety analysis, legal compliance and target setting all converge, and our team brings them together for your facility.
Individual significance for organisations
Planning quality determines how effective the whole management system becomes. Facilities that conduct rigorous hazard identification, keep their legal registers live and set quantitative health and safety objectives drive measurable performance improvement. Those that treat planning as documentation simply accumulate paper without any operational outcome, and we steer you firmly away from that.
Contribution to ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System
Clause 6 converts the strategic context from clause 4 and the leadership direction from clause 5 into specific risk management actions and measurable objectives. Its outputs feed the resources and competence of clause 7 support, the operational planning and control of clause 8 operation, and the monitoring against objectives in clause 9 performance evaluation.
What compliant execution looks like
How we implement this element
A focused six step methodology calibrated to deliver planning as a working capability rather than a documented compliance artefact.
To clause 6.1.1 we establish a framework for identifying the risks and opportunities to your management system across internal and external factors, organisational change, regulatory change and technology change.
To clause 6.1.2.1 we identify hazards across routine and non routine activities, normal, abnormal and emergency conditions, past and future activities and internal and external sources, and we integrate job safety analysis, HAZOP and process hazard analysis.
To clause 6.1.2.2 we assess your health and safety risks using a risk matrix suited to your organisation, we document the acceptance criteria, we integrate process hazard analysis and LOPA where they apply, and we align with your corporate risk framework.
To clause 6.1.3 we build a live register of legal and other requirements drawn from the Factories Act, OSHA, the EU Directive and industry consensus standards, and we define how it is updated and how applicability is reviewed.
To clause 6.1.4 we plan actions to address risks through the hierarchy of controls running from elimination to substitution to engineering controls to administrative controls and finally personal protective equipment, all aligned with management of change and the operational control of clause 8.
To clause 6.2 we set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound objectives at the relevant functions and levels, and we integrate them with API RP 754 process safety event indicators, ISO 45001 key performance indicators and your corporate ESG, TCFD and BRSR targets.
Element implementation flow chart
A decision gated workflow that shows the actual sequence of activities from initiation through steady state operation, with key decision points highlighted.
What we produce
- A risks and opportunities framework
- A hazard identification register to clause 6.1.2.1
- A risk assessment workbook to clause 6.1.2.2
- A legal and other requirements register to clause 6.1.3
- An action plan to clause 6.1.4 built on the hierarchy of controls
- Health and safety objectives and key performance indicators to clause 6.2
Where execution fails
- Hazard identification limited to routine activities only
- A stale legal register where adopted regulations are never reflected
- Risk assessment using a generic matrix that is never calibrated to your context
- Objectives set at the top but never cascaded to the operational level
Codes this element is built on
Explore related elements in this framework
ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System full element index
Talk to us about implementing Planning
We can scope this element implementation against your facility, regulatory context, and existing management system maturity, then integrate it with the other ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System elements you already operate.