ISO 45001:2018
ISO 45001:2018 Lead Auditor
Lead first, second and third-party audits of occupational health and safety management systems
Lead Auditor · 40 hours · Certificate valid 36 months
A lead auditor plans the audit, builds and directs the team, reaches conclusions that stand up to scrutiny and recommends whether a certificate should be granted, continued or withheld. This course prepares you to do that for occupational health and safety (OH&S) management systems audited against ISO 45001:2018, including Amendment 1:2024 on climate change.
You start inside the certification system: accreditation and certification bodies, ISO/IEC 17021-1 and the OH&S competence rules in ISO/IEC TS 17021-10, IAF MD 22 on OH&S certification and audit time under IAF MD 5. You also see where the revision of ISO 45001 stands: a new edition is expected in 2027, followed by a transition period. Three modules then revisit clauses 4 to 10 from the lead auditor's seat: hazard identification and risk assessment, legal requirements, worker consultation and participation, the hierarchy of controls, management of change, contractors and outsourcing, emergency preparedness, compliance evaluation and incident investigation.
Shared modules cover audit principles, the audit programme, the audit process, leading the team, nonconformities and root cause, and reporting and follow-up. The capstone module deals with the situations that define third-party OH&S auditing: a stage 1 usually done at least partly on site, stage 2 planning by OH&S risk with the interviews IAF MD 22 requires, multi-site and temporary site sampling, auditing legal compliance without acting as a regulator, what to do when you see imminent danger, and integrated audits with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
Scenarios throughout are set at metal fabrication plants, warehouses and multi-site groups, and each asks you to decide, grade and report as a lead auditor would.
This course teaches auditing of a management system. It is not OSHA training and does not satisfy any OSHA training requirement. On passing you receive a PlanetISO Certificate of Completion; certification bodies and personnel certification schemes apply their own auditor qualification processes.
What people learn
- Explain the roles of accreditation bodies, certification bodies and IAF mandatory documents, and the OH&S competence requirements of ISO/IEC TS 17021-10.
- Apply IAF MD 22 and IAF MD 5 to plan stage 1, stage 2, surveillance and recertification audits of an OH&S MS, including audit time, required interviews and temporary sites.
- Evaluate the adequacy and consistent application of an organization's methods for context, scope, worker consultation and participation, hazard identification, risk assessment and legal requirements.
- Plan risk-based sampling of operational controls, management of change, contractor controls and emergency arrangements, and verify them at the point of work on every shift.
- Audit the evaluation of compliance and management's knowledge of compliance status without acting as a regulator, and handle a discovered breach or imminent danger correctly.
- Evaluate incident investigation and corrective action for worker participation, causes beyond the individual and use of the hierarchy of controls.
- Lead an audit team, manage conflict and time, and reach graded conclusions including systemic findings and certification recommendations.
- Explain Amendment 1:2024 and the expected transition after the revision of ISO 45001, and write reports that support the certification decision.