TRANSITION PROGRAMME · 4801 / 18001 → 45001

Still on AS/NZS 4801 or OHSAS 18001? The clock has run out.

Both predecessor standards are withdrawn — certificates against them no longer carry weight with principals or prequal schemes. The good news: most of your existing system carries straight over. The transition maps what you have onto ISO 45001's structure, fills the genuinely new clauses, and re-certifies — typically in 6–10 weeks.

Scope the transition The full 45001 spec

6–10 weeks typicalFixed-price quoteExisting documents retained

WHAT ACTUALLY CHANGES

Three genuinely new demands — the rest is re-mapping.

NEW-01

Context & interested parties

4801 never asked who your stakeholders are. 45001 clause 4 wants the register — workers, unions, principals, WorkSafe — and the issues that follow from them.

NEW-02

Leadership, not delegation

A safety manager owning the system no longer passes. Clause 5 puts accountability with top management and requires visible worker participation arrangements.

NEW-03

Risk thinking over procedures

The hazard register survives, but 45001 wants risks and opportunities assessed for the management system itself — not just site hazards.

SEQUENCE — THE TRANSITION

Six to ten weeks, mapped clause by clause.

WK 1

Transition gap analysis

Your 4801/18001 system mapped onto the 45001 clause structure.

WK 2–4

Fill the new clauses

Context, leadership, participation and risk — written with your people.

WK 4–6

Re-align documents

Numbering, references and registers restructured; nothing rewritten that works.

WK 6–8

Internal audit & review

One full cycle under the new structure before anyone external looks.

WK 8–10

Transition audit

Usually combined with your scheduled surveillance visit — one audit, not two.

Q&A — TRANSITION

If the system still runs, it's a transition regardless of the certificate date — we map and fill. If the binder has been closed since the last audit, the gap analysis will say so honestly and we'll quote a rebuild instead. Either way the price is fixed before we start.

Usually yes — certification bodies routinely run the transition assessment inside a scheduled surveillance visit. We plan the programme backwards from that date so you pay for one audit, not two.

On site, barely — pre-starts, toolbox talks and incident reporting carry on. The changes concentrate at the leadership layer: who owns the system, how workers participate, and what the management review covers.

NEXT STEP

Book the transition before your next surveillance visit.

A thirty-minute call, the transition mapped against your audit calendar, and a fixed-price quote in writing.

Book a consultation0800 KAIZEN (524 936) · hello@kaizenconsulting.co.nz