Standards › OHSAS 18001

Superseded — see ISO 45001

OHSAS 18001 — Occupational Health & Safety (superseded)

OHSAS 18001 has been replaced by ISO 45001. Organisations should now use ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety management systems.

What it covers

OHSAS 18001 was the widely used British-originated specification for occupational health and safety management systems. Following the publication of ISO 45001 in 2018, OHSAS 18001 was withdrawn and the migration period for accredited certification ended in September 2021.

Who it is for

This page exists for organisations that held OHSAS 18001 certification, still reference it in tender documents, or arrive here searching for it.

Key requirement themes

• Any current OHSAS 18001 certificate claim should be treated as expired — accredited certification ceased with the migration deadline
• ISO 45001 carries forward the intent with stronger leadership, worker participation and organisational-context requirements
• Documentation built for OHSAS 18001 usually maps well onto ISO 45001 but must be reviewed, not relabelled

Theme-level description in our own words — the standard itself defines the requirements, and no standard text is reproduced here.

Construction-sector relevance

If your PQQ library, capability statements or CVs still cite OHSAS 18001, update them to ISO 45001 — assessors read an OHSAS reference in 2026 as a system that has not been maintained.

Common gaps we find

• Capability statements still citing OHSAS 18001
• Old certificates displayed as if current
• OHSAS-era manuals relabelled without gap review

Related standards

Questions we are actually asked

Is OHSAS 18001 still valid?

No. It was withdrawn following the publication of ISO 45001, and the migration period for accredited certificates ended on 30 September 2021. There is no current accredited OHSAS 18001 certification.

We have an OHSAS-era manual — is it wasted?

No. Much of it maps to ISO 45001, but the newer standard asks more of leadership, worker participation and organisational context, so a gap review is needed rather than a find-and-replace.

What should we do first?

Run a gap analysis of your existing system against ISO 45001, update your public claims and PQQ answers to remove OHSAS references, and plan implementation of the differences.

Professional disclaimer: this page is orientation, not advice on your specific circumstances, and not a reproduction of any standard. Implementation support, templates and platform tools do not confer certification or legal compliance; certification decisions rest solely with independent certification bodies, and legal duties apply regardless of certification.