What It Is

ISO 45001:2018 is the international standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS). It provides a framework to prevent work-related injury and ill health, improve OH&S performance, using a risk-based approach aligned with Annex SL (HLS) for integration with other ISO standards like ISO 9001 and 14001.

Key Components

• Clauses 4-10 cover context, leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation, and improvement.
• Emphasizes hierarchy of controls, worker participation, and PDCA cycle.
• No fixed number of controls; outcome-focused requirements.
• Optional third-party certification via audits.

Why Organizations Use It

• Reduces incidents, legal risks, and costs (e.g., 22-29% incident reductions reported).
• Enhances resilience, insurance savings, talent retention, and supply-chain competitiveness.
• Builds stakeholder trust through demonstrated leadership and continual improvement.

Implementation Overview

• Phased approach: gap analysis, policy/objectives, controls, audits, certification (6-12 months typical).
• Scalable for all sizes/sectors; requires leadership commitment and worker involvement.

What It Is

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) is a comprehensive regulation establishing the first horizontal framework for AI in the EU. It entered into force on 1 August 2024 with phased applicability. Its primary purpose is to ensure AI systems are safe, transparent, and respect fundamental rights, applying a risk-based approach across prohibited, high-risk, limited-risk, and minimal-risk categories.

Key Components

• **Four risk tiersProhibitions (Article 5), high-risk obligations (Articles 6-15, Annexes I/III), transparency duties (Article 50), GPAI rules (Chapter V).
• Core requirements: risk management, data governance, documentation, human oversight, cybersecurity.
• Built on product safety principles with conformity assessments, CE marking, EU database registration.
• Compliance via self-assessment or notified bodies, presumption through harmonized standards.

Why Organizations Use It

• Mandatory for EU-market AI providers/deployers, avoiding fines up to 7% global turnover.
• Enhances risk management, builds trust, enables market access.
• Competitive edge in regulated sectors like healthcare, finance.

Implementation Overview

Phased rollout (6-36 months); inventory AI assets, classify risks, build QMS/RMS, conduct assessments. Applies to all sizes targeting EU, cross-sector; audits by national authorities/AI Office. (178 words)