ISO 45001 in a virtual or hybrid work environment

As an international standard that is applicable to any organization of any size anywhere in the world, ISO 45001 is written in such a way that the requirements are descriptive but not prescriptive; meaning the requirements tell you what needs to be done for the processes of the OHSMS, but not how to do the processes. As such, there is a lot of flexibility in how you meet the requirements in any particular organization to allow for differences in industry or legal requirements among other variations.

SO, a virtual or hybrid working environment is one of these variables that can be accommodated. For instance, ISO 45001 asks you to identify the hazards and OH&S risks in your organizational processes, and you would need to consider the virtual or hybrid working environment and identify the hazards in this way of working. You can then identify the unique controls for your working processes. This is true for all requirements of ISO 45001.

You can learn more about the requirements for the OHSMS in ISO 45001 in a plain English fashion in our whitepaper: Clause-by-clause explanation of ISO 45001:2018, https://info.advisera.com/45001academy/free-download/clause-by-clause-explanation-of-iso-45001