iso 45001 and organisations as complex adaptive systems

Speaker : Deonie Botha

Presentation Title: ISO 45001:2016 and organisations as complex adaptive systems

Table of contents

• Objectives

• Executive summary

• The world of work and megatrends

• Occupational health and safety trends

• Organisations and risk

• Organisations as complex adaptive systems (CAS)

• ISO 45001

• ISO 45001:2016 and risk management

Objectives

• What does the organisation of the future look like and the megatrends shaping them?

• What is risk and why should organisations become complex adaptive systems?

• What trends shape and define OH&S?

• What is ISO 45001?

• Which clauses in ISO 45001:2016 enable organisations to become CAS?

• Does ISO 45001:2016 decrease or increase uncertainty and complexity?

Executive summary

• The world of work is changing and similarly organisations are required to adapt (or die);

• Organisations are exposed to different types of risks due to the increasingly complex nature of the world and work;

• The above is also applicable to OH&S and OH&S management;

• Organisations need to be managed as adaptive systems in order to survive;

• ISO 45001:2016 assist organisations to mitigate OH&S risks;

• New clauses can either lead to more uncertainty and complexity if not managed effectively

Morgan, J. (2015) The future of work

The world of work

• Big data

• The cloud

• Internet of Things (IoT)

• Predictive analytics

• Additive manufacturing

• Robotics

Megatrends

• Horizontal and vertical integration

• Simulated workplaces

• Wearables

• Critical control management

• Aging workforce

• Differing skillsets

Megatrends

• Pervasive technologies and increased levels of mechanization and automation

• Rise of big data and internet of things/tactile internet

• Predictive analytics to prescriptive analytics

• Health, safety and environment interrelating with productivity

• Importance of occupational and psychosocial wellness

Future OSH

• Experiential workplaces and training become increasingly virtual and visual

• Wearables as a new form of personal protective equipment

• Auditing moving beyond commonalities to extremities

• Neurosafety and the science of safety leadership

• Equipment reliability and safety

• Cybersecurity

Future OHS

• Impact of information and communication technology

• Impact of globalisation of trade on managing work

• Impact of financial crisis on the nature of work

• Impact of changing location of work

• Trends in human resource management practices affecting worker well-being

Source: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2014)

Unresolved aspects in OH&S - risk

Risk

• Market/Reputation risk

• Financial risk

• Operational risk

• Legal/regulatory risk

• Strategic risk

• Technology risk

• People/culture risks

• Fraud risk

Risk management is the process of identifying, quantifying, and managing the risks that an organisation faces. As the outcomes of business activities are uncertain, they are said to have some element of risk.

Risk

Complex adaptive systems

“Companies today are more focused than ever on the short term. They often neglect exploration activities and move inexorably toward a “success trap”. To avoid the success trap, companies should keep strategy in tune with their environment, master exploratory (as opposed to exploiting) capabilities, and exercise new forms of leadership.”

This is also true of a company’s approach towards and occupational health & safety management system.

Reeves, Haanaes & Harnoss, 2016. Tomorrow never dies.

Complex adaptive systems

• Maintain heterogeneity of people, ideas and endeavours

• Sustain a modular structure

• Preserve redundancy among components

• Expect surprise, but reduce uncertainty

• Create feedback loops and adaptive mechanisms

• Foster trust and reciprocity in the business ecosystem

ISO 45001

Specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety management system, together with guidance for its use, to enable an organization to proactively improve its OH&S performance in preventing injury and ill-health. ISO 45001 is applicable to any organization that wishes to establish an OH&S management system.

ISO 45001

• Eliminate or minimize those OH&S risks associated with its activities.

• Establish, implement, and continually improve an OHSMS together with its OH&S performance.

• Assure itself of its conformity with applicable legal requirements as well as other requirements to which it subscribes.

• Demonstrate conformity with the requirements of the global principal Occupational Health and Safety Management Standard.

ISO 45001:2016 - Structure

• Scope

• Normative reference

• Terms and definitions

• Context of the organisation

• Leadership

• Planning

• Support

• Operation

• Performance evaluation

• Continual improvement

ISO45001:2016 - Clauses

• Understand your organisation and it’s business context

• Understand the need and expectation of interested parties

• Hierarchy of controls

• Management of change

• Outsourcing

• Procurement

• Contractors

• Communication

ISO45001:2006 - Summary

• Context of the organisation (4.1) a high-level understanding of the important issues that can affect, either positively or negatively manage its responsibilities

• Needs and expectations of interested parties (4.2) establish whom the interested parties are and whether or not they are relevant to OH&S

• Leadership (5.0) top management has to demonstrate leadership and commitment

• Policy (5.2.) needs to make mention of the organisation’s commitment to continual improvement and should be committed to worker participation and consultation

ISO45001:2006 - Summary

• Planning (6.0) Consider risk and opportunities associated to the issues identified in 4.1

• Support (7.0) Resources, Competence, Awareness, Communication andDocumented information (as opposed to documents and records)

• Operations (8.0) Operational planning and Control, Management of change, Outsourcing, Procurement, Contractors and Emergency preparedness and Response.

• Performance evaluation (9.0) Monitoring, Measurement, Analysis and Evaluation, Evaluation of Compliance, Internal Audit and Management review

ISO45001:2006 - Summary

• Improvement (10.1) Incident, Nonconformity and Corrective Action and Continual Improvement. Preventive Action is no longer mentioned, as this is managed under the concept of risk based thinking which is explicit throughout the standard.

Context of the organisation

• Factors and conditions affecting the organizational operation e.g. regulation, governance, stakeholders

• What drives the culture of the organization

• Who is an interested party and what are their needs and expectations e.g. workers, customers, shareholders, competitors etc.

• The scope of the OH&S management system in relation to the organizational operation and the expectations of interested parties

• No changes in terms of OH&S management system and process

Leadership and worker participation

• Leadership (not management) and commitment

• Engaging (not ensuring) with workers to protect, improve performance, and support OH&S systems

• More attention to the communication and participation of workers in the OH&S policy;

• No changes to roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and authorities

• More focus on capturing and promoting worker participation, engagement and communications.

Planning for the OH&S system

• Increased focus on opportunities and measures of effectiveness in terms of addressing risks – proactive rather than reactive

• Achieving OHS objectives and plans in line with available resources

• Indication of roles and responsibilities, timing and measures to establish progress and whether the objectives have been achieved

• Objectives and plans to achieve them will be documented information

Support

• Organization will determine and provide resources needed

• Procedures are no longer required but documented OHSAS information to support competence evaluation and development

• Awareness creation among workers about policy requirements, hazards and risks and their part in OH&S performance

• What is the objective of communication and was it effective

• Documented information replaces the procedural requirements

• Controls for documented information (external and internal)

Operation

• Hazard and risk controls must be planned in to the operational controls

• Hierarchy of controls specified in order of preference wrt risk management preference

• Requirements and potential sources for planned change i.e. change management

• Standard requirements in relation to outsourced processes

• Procurements of goods

• Contractors and the establishment of controls and communication wrtcontractors

• Emergency preparedness and response strengthened and expanded

Performance evaluation

• Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation; evaluation of compliance with legal requirements and other requirements; internal audit objectives increased focus on documented information

• Internal audit process includes communication with workers and worker representatives, to aid continual improvement of the OH&S system.

• Management review with added emphasis on improvement and communications based on risks, opportunities and system effectiveness

Improvement

• Direct action must be taken in a timely manner to control the incident or nonconformity and deal with the consequences . More emphasis on corrective rather than preventative action

• Root cause analysis

• Documented information for continual improvement actions, communications and the review of effectiveness shall be retained

• Continual improvement objectives remain the same

• Continual improvement process should be the output of the management system achieved from various elements in the system

Conclusion

• Different types of organisations and work• Megatrends creates complexity and uncertainty• The nature of occupational health and safety• This creates risk for organisations• Organisations need to become complex adaptive systems• ISO 45001:2016 should enable organisations to become complex

adaptive systems• But if not implemented and managed effectively can create

even more uncertainty

Thank you