ISO 45001 and labor law
Health and safety at work are key concerns for businesses.
The ISO 45001 standard covers the organization of occupational health and safety management within a company. It offers a structured approach aimed at preventing occupational risks and improving working conditions. Its application is voluntary and specific to each company.
Conversely, Articles L.4121-1 et seq. of the French Labor Code establish a legal framework that employers are required to comply with. These texts define obligations in terms of prevention and protection of employee health and safety, and apply to all companies without exception.
Can ISO certification be relied upon to ensure compliance with legal obligations?
Discover our analysis to ensure effective and compliant occupational health and safety prevention.
1. ISO 45001 and the Labor Code: complementarity and differences
ISO 45001 complements the law. However, relying entirely on the implementation of ISO 45001 certification is not enough, as there are differences and risks that employers must be aware of.
ISO 45001 requires the implementation of a management system with a proactive approach to the risks inherent in the company’s activities. This obligation provides the company with a structure for the subject, including methods, procedures, reviews, indicators, and risk reduction measures. The standard positions the company as an expert in its risks. As such, the standard requires the company to first identify hazards, then assess the risks, and finally plan actions. Chapter 8.1.2 lists five measures and ranks them in order of priority:
a) Eliminate the hazard;
b) Substitute less hazardous processes, operations, materials, or equipment;
c) Implement collective protection measures and reorganize work;
d) Use administrative prevention measures, including training;
e) Use appropriate personal protective equipment.
The law takes a different approach on these points. Article L.4121-2 sets out the nine general principles of prevention:
- Avoid risks;
- Assess risks that cannot be avoided;
- Combat risks at source;
- Adapt work to people, particularly in terms of the design of workstations and the choice of work equipment and working and production methods, with a view in particular to limiting monotonous and repetitive work and reducing its effects on health;
- Take account of the state of the art;
- Replace dangerous substances with non-dangerous or less dangerous substances;
- Plan prevention by integrating, in a coherent whole, technology, work organization, working conditions, social relations, and the influence of environmental factors, in particular risks related to moral harassment and sexual harassment, as defined in Articles L. 1152-1 and L. 1153-1, as well as those related to sexist behavior as defined in Article L. 1142-2-1;
- Take collective protective measures, giving them priority over individual protective measures;
- Provide appropriate instructions to workers.
Unlike the standard, which ranks the measures to be implemented, the law does not introduce any prioritization. It promotes the optimization of prevention by combining the implementation of general prevention principles.
2. Exclusion of subjects: vigilance above all
The standard introduces in its Annex A (guidelines for the use of the standard) the possibility of excluding subjects when the term “take into consideration” is used. However, this term applies to issues but also to the identification of hazards (see A.6.1.2.1). Great vigilance must be exercised when excluding a subject, and justification must be provided.
It is not legally acceptable to circumvent a law. Due to the hierarchy of legal texts, the standard is subordinate to the law. In this sense, the standard reminds organizations that they must comply with the applicable regulations.
3. ISO 45001 and the Labor Code: a winning combination
ISO 45001 offers a management structure and dynamic that the Labor Code does not provide. Certification provides a management method with procedures and requirements for evaluating the effectiveness of the measures taken.
By requiring risk assessments to be carried out in all of the company’s business lines and activities, the standard helps to develop a global health and safety management culture throughout the company, not just at the level of a single business line or activity.
ISO 45001 is a framework available to companies to help them comply with the law. However, companies must identify any weaknesses in the standard in relation to the law. Certification does not guarantee compliance with all legal requirements, but it does help companies to comply.
To go further
To support you in implementing a robust Occupational Health and Safety approach, EURO-SYMBIOSE offers the following training courses:
1. Training to understand the meaning and scope of all the requirements of ISO 45001 and to implement them in the context of your company:
2. Training to become an auditor of the requirements of ISO 45001 according to the audit principles of ISO 19001:
- ISO 45001: 2018 – Become an occupational health and safety management system auditor | EURO-SYMBIOSE
3. Training on Occupational Health and Safety Culture:
