Is there a link between certification to ISO 45001 and safety incident performance?
According to a 2023 study, as the number of organisations certified to ISO 45001 across the EU increases, the number of accidents at work in EU member states decreases.
They found that “the number of organizations certified to ISO 45001:2018 does affect the number of accidents at work in EU member states” and an “increase in the number of certified organizations results in a decrease in the incidence rate”. These connections were statistically significant.
Like anything, there were limitations. For one, incident data for non-fatal and less severe can be inconsistent. There’s also differences between countries in how they record events, and I don’t believe that the direction of causality could be established in this study.
Ref: Črv, S. (2023). Occupational Accidents and Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems ISO 45001: 2018 in EU. RUO. Revija za Univerzalno Odlicnost, 12(1), 18-42.
Study link: https://www.fos-unm.si/media/pdf/RUO/2023-12-1/RUO_271_CRV.pdf
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