The OHSAS18001 management standard has existed for a number of years as the way that organization’s demonstrate their competence in Health and Safety management.

This standard has now been withdrawn and has been replaced by ISO45001:2018.  Currently organizations are in the process of Migrating to this new standard, and holders will need to migrate to ISO45001:2018 by March 2021

Where organisations demonstrate to a Certification Body (CB), like BSI, that they have successfully completed the migration process, the CB may certify them to the standard. 

Migration to ISO45001 is seen as a positive step by many.  The ISO45001 standard is a significant improvement from OHSAS18001 and allows organisations to make improvements in their Leadership, Culture and Communication (particularly in relation to consulting with the workforce).

Where the migration is not completed, the organization will not be certified to a health and safety management standard and the rate of accidents and costs may increase.  This may cause issue among some of their stakeholders including customers and workforce.