What a policy is not
A policy is not a slogan, a wall poster or a marketing text. It is the list of commitments top management signs, and the rest of the system rests on it.
What is expected in it
- Providing safe and healthy working conditions; a commitment to prevent injury and ill health.
- A commitment to fulfil legal and other requirements.
- A commitment to eliminate hazards and reduce OH&S risks — in that order: eliminate first, reduce second.
- A commitment to continual improvement of the system.
- Consultation and participation of workers and, where they exist, their representatives.
It must be specific to the organisation
A policy downloaded from the internet does not meet the requirement if it does not reflect this organisation's activity and hazards. If a welding shop and a call centre have policies made of the same sentences, one of them has not written down its own hazard.
Publishing and access
The policy is documented, communicated within the organisation and made available to interested parties. "Available" is not the same as pinned to a board; a worker has to be able to find it when it matters.
Review
The policy is considered at management review and updated where needed. If the organisation's activity changed and the policy did not, the policy no longer describes it. In Optifora's data layer policy is a shared document type of the harmonised structure (5.2), serving all four ISO standards.