International HSE Standards: ISO, OSHA, NEBOSH, Compared

The four: the standard, the law, the qualification, the system

The international HSE standards are the four, and the four are a different thing. The ISO 45001 is the management system (the clause, the PDCA, the certificate). The OSHA 29 CFR is the US standard (the 1910, the 1926, the citation). The NEBOSH is the UK qualification (the IGC, the IGP, the technical). The UK HSWA is the UK law (the HSWA 1974, the regulation, the prosecution).

The HSE professional who knows the four knows the international HSE: the system, the standard, the qualification, and the law — and which one is which.

The ISO 45001: the management system

The ISO 45001 is the international occupational health and safety management system — the standard for the organisation, not the person. The structure is the clause 4 to the clause 10 (the context, the leadership, the planning, the support, the operation, the performance, the improvement), and the logic is the PDCA.

The certificate is the three-year cycle: the stage 1, the stage 2, the surveillance, the recertification. The structure is the Annex SL — the same skeleton as the ISO 9001 and the ISO 14001, which is why the integrated audit runs the three on one calendar.

The OSHA 29 CFR: the US standard

The OSHA 29 CFR is the US standard: the 1910 is the general industry, the 1926 is the construction. The standard is enforced by the citation and the fine, and the federal OSHA is the one that writes it — the state plan runs it for the state where the state has taken it over.

For the international HSE professional, the 29 CFR is the US side of the table: where the work is in the US, the 1910 and the 1926 are the law of the site.

The NEBOSH: the UK qualification

The NEBOSH (the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health) is the UK qualification body. The IGC is the general certificate, the IGP is the general professional, and the technical certificates are the fire, the construction, the oil and gas.

The NEBOSH is the personal certificate — the career. The IGC is the baseline that the UK and the Gulf recognise, and it is the qualification the international HSE professional carries across the border.

The comparison: the four, side by side

The four in one table:

• What it is: the ISO 45001 — the management system; the OSHA 29 CFR — the US standard; the NEBOSH — the UK qualification; the UK HSWA — the UK law.
• The scope: the ISO 45001 — the international (the 9001/14001 logic); the OSHA — the US (the 1910, the 1926); the NEBOSH — the UK (the IGC, the IGP, the technical); the UK HSWA — the UK (the HSWA 1974, the regulation).
• The output: the ISO 45001 — the certificate (the three years); the OSHA — the compliance (the citation, the fine); the NEBOSH — the certificate (the qualification); the UK HSWA — the compliance (the prosecution).
• The risk: the ISO 45001 — the clause 6.1 (the risk and the opportunity); the OSHA — the general duty + the standard; the NEBOSH — the 5-step (the IGC); the UK HSWA — the MHSWR (the 5-step).
• In one word: the ISO 45001 — the system; the OSHA — the standard; the NEBOSH — the qualification; the UK HSWA — the law.