# OH&S Policy & Leadership (ISO 45001 Clauses 5.1–5.3) > Draft and validate the OH&S policy, leadership commitment statement, and roles & responsibilities matrix per ISO 45001:2018. Validates the policy for all six mandatory commitments (prevention of injury, safe working conditions, hazard elimination, continual improvement, worker consultation, legal compliance) and checks role definitions from top management to worker level. Tags: ISO 45001, OHSMS, Policy, Leadership, Compliance ## Example Prompts - Draft an OH&S policy for our ISO 45001 certification - Validate our OH&S policy for the six mandatory commitments - Create a roles and responsibilities matrix for our safety management system - Review our leadership commitment statement for Clause 5.1 compliance - Map OH&S roles from top management to worker level URL: https://rakenne.app/skills/ohsms-policy-leadership/index.md Try this skill: https://rakenne.app/a/?skill=ohsms-policy-leadership ## Overview ISO 45001:2018 Clause 5 establishes the requirements for leadership and worker participation in the OH&S management system. The OH&S policy is the single most-audited document in any certification -- assessors check it first, workers should be able to recite its key commitments, and every other OHSMS document traces back to it. This skill builds the policy, a leadership commitment statement, and a roles and responsibilities matrix that together demonstrate top management's active involvement in the OHSMS. The policy must include six mandatory commitments per Clause 5.2: prevention of work-related injury and ill health, provision of safe and healthy working conditions, elimination of hazards and reduction of OH&S risks, continual improvement of the OHSMS, consultation and participation of workers, and compliance with legal and other requirements. The validation tool checks for all six using pattern analysis and flags any that are missing or ambiguous. ### What It Covers - **OH&S policy (Clause 5.2)** -- formal policy statement with all six mandatory commitments, tailored to the organization's purpose, size, and hazard profile - **Leadership commitment (Clause 5.1)** -- top management's specific commitment actions including accountability, resource allocation, OHSMS integration into business processes, and protection from reprisals - **Roles and responsibilities (Clause 5.3)** -- matrix mapping OH&S functions from top management through OH&S manager, safety representatives, first aiders, emergency coordinators, line managers, and workers - **Policy appropriateness** -- checks that the policy is specific to the organization rather than generic, provides a framework for setting objectives, and includes approval/sign-off - **Communication provisions** -- how the policy is communicated within the organization and made available to interested parties - **Document control** -- version, effective date, review date, owner, and approval section ## Example Conversation > **You:** We need to draft an OH&S policy for SafeBuild Construction. We're a commercial construction company, 200 employees, 3 sites. Our CEO David Mercer is the top management sponsor. > > **Agent:** I'll tailor the policy to construction-specific hazards and your workforce composition. Let me start with a few questions to make the policy specific rather than generic: > > 1. What are SafeBuild's principal hazards? For construction, I'd expect working at heights, mobile plant and equipment, excavation, electrical, falling objects, and manual handling -- but which ones are most significant for your operations? > 2. Do you want the policy to reference specific regulations (e.g., OHS Act 2004, OHS Regulations 2017)? > 3. How will the policy be communicated? Notice boards on site, induction packs, intranet, or all of the above? > > **You:** Working at heights and mobile plant are our biggest risks -- we had a serious near-miss last year with a crane. Yes, reference the Victorian legislation. Communication should be site notice boards, induction packs, and we'll put it on our intranet when we get one set up. Oh, and CFMEU wants it on the safety committee agenda. > > **Agent:** I'll include all of those. For the hierarchy of controls commitment, I'll emphasize elimination and engineering controls over PPE, which is especially important in construction where the temptation is to rely on PPE as the primary control. > > Now for the roles and responsibilities matrix -- beyond the CEO and Karen Walsh as HSE Manager, who are your key OH&S roles? > > **You:** Each site has a Site Manager who is responsible for safety on their site. We have a safety committee with worker representatives from each site. We also have designated first aiders on each site -- two per site as required by regulations. > > **Agent:** Good. I'll structure the roles matrix as: > > - **CEO (David Mercer)** -- overall OHSMS accountability, resource allocation, policy approval > - **HSE Manager (Karen Walsh)** -- day-to-day OHSMS management, reporting to CEO on performance > - **Site Managers (3)** -- OH&S compliance on their respective sites, risk assessment participation > - **Safety Committee representatives** -- worker consultation, hazard reporting liaison > - **First aiders (6, two per site)** -- emergency first response, first aid equipment maintenance > - **All workers** -- following procedures, reporting hazards, right to refuse unsafe work > > Should I include an emergency coordinator role? For construction sites, having a designated person for evacuation coordination is important. > > **You:** Yes, make the Site Managers also the emergency coordinators for their sites. > > **Agent:** I've drafted both documents. Let me run the validator. > > `validate_ohs_policy` results: > > **Mandatory Commitments (Clause 5.2):** > > | Commitment | Status | > |-----------|--------| > | Prevention of work-related injury and ill health | FOUND | > | Provision of safe and healthy working conditions | FOUND | > | Elimination of hazards and reduction of OH&S risks | FOUND | > | Continual improvement of the OHSMS | FOUND | > | Consultation and participation of workers | FOUND | > | Compliance with legal and other requirements | FOUND | > > All six mandatory commitments present. One warning: policy should explicitly mention availability to interested parties. I'll add a statement that the policy is available to contractors, regulators, and clients upon request. > > Running again -- **PASS**. Both documents saved to `output/`. ## Sample Output Excerpt The skill produces an OH&S policy and a roles and responsibilities matrix. Here is a representative excerpt from the OH&S policy. --- # OH&S Policy **SafeBuild Construction Pty Ltd** **Document ID:** SBC-OHS-POL-001 | **Version:** 1.0 **Effective date:** 2026-04-01 | **Review date:** 2027-04-01 **Owner:** Karen Walsh, HSE Manager | **Approved by:** David Mercer, CEO ## Policy Statement SafeBuild Construction Pty Ltd is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for all workers, including employees, subcontractors, labour hire workers, and visitors, across all construction sites and our head office. This policy is appropriate to the nature and scale of our commercial construction operations and the specific OH&S risks associated with our activities. ## Our Commitments SafeBuild Construction commits to: 1. **Prevention of work-related injury and ill health** -- implementing proactive measures to prevent harm before it occurs, with particular focus on our high-risk activities including working at heights, mobile plant operations, excavation, and electrical work 2. **Provision of safe and healthy working conditions** -- maintaining physical and psychological working conditions that protect the health, safety, and wellbeing of all workers at every location 3. **Elimination of hazards and reduction of OH&S risks** -- applying the hierarchy of controls (elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, PPE) to systematically eliminate hazards and reduce OH&S risks to as low as reasonably practicable 4. **Continual improvement of the OH&S management system** -- ongoing enhancement of our OHSMS and OH&S performance through monitoring, measurement, audit, and management review 5. **Consultation and participation of workers and their representatives** -- engaging workers and the CFMEU in OH&S decisions through our safety committee, toolbox talks, and formal consultation processes 6. **Compliance with legal and other requirements** -- fulfilling our obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic), OHS Regulations 2017 (Vic), and all other applicable legal requirements and voluntary commitments ## Framework for Objectives This policy provides the framework for setting measurable OH&S objectives. Objectives shall be consistent with these commitments, take into account our principal hazards and legal requirements, and be reviewed at least annually during management review. ## Communication and Availability This policy is communicated to all workers through site induction, site notice boards, and the company intranet. It is available to interested parties including subcontractors, regulators, clients, and unions upon request. **Approved:** _________________________ David Mercer, Chief Executive Officer Date: 2026-04-01 ## Extension Tools ### `validate_ohs_policy` Validates the OH&S policy for all six mandatory commitments (Clause 5.2), checks policy appropriateness and structure, and validates the roles document for required role definitions (Clause 5.3). **Policy commitment checks (Clause 5.2):** | Commitment | What It Checks For | Severity | |-----------|-------------------|----------| | Prevention of injury and ill health | Language about preventing work-related injury, ill health, or harm | ERROR if missing | | Safe and healthy working conditions | References to safe and healthy working conditions or environment | ERROR if missing | | Elimination of hazards and risk reduction | Hazard elimination, risk reduction, or hierarchy of controls language | ERROR if missing | | Continual improvement | Continual or continuous improvement of the OHSMS | ERROR if missing | | Worker consultation and participation | Consultation and participation of workers or their representatives | ERROR if missing | | Legal compliance | Compliance with legal requirements, regulatory obligations | ERROR if missing | **Policy appropriateness checks:** | Check | What It Validates | Severity | |-------|-------------------|----------| | Appropriateness to context | Policy states it is appropriate to organization's purpose, size, and context | WARNING if missing | | Framework for objectives | Policy provides a framework for setting OH&S objectives | WARNING if missing | | Approval/signature | Policy has an approval or signature section with effective date | WARNING if missing | | Communication provisions | Policy references how it will be communicated within the organization | WARNING if missing | **Roles document checks (Clause 5.3):** | Check | What It Validates | Severity | |-------|-------------------|----------| | Top management | Top management or senior leadership accountability defined | WARNING if missing | | OH&S manager/officer | Dedicated OH&S management role defined | WARNING if missing | | Safety representatives | Worker safety representatives or safety committee | WARNING if missing | | First aiders | First aid personnel defined | WARNING if missing | | Emergency coordinators | Emergency coordination role defined | WARNING if missing | | Responsibilities structure | Document explicitly lists responsibilities for roles | WARNING if missing | | Authorities structure | Document explicitly lists authorities for roles | WARNING if missing | ## Getting Started Start by activating the *OH&S Policy & Leadership* skill. The agent will ask about your organization's context, hazard profile, and leadership structure to tailor the policy and roles matrix. Have this information ready: - Your organization's principal hazards and high-risk activities - Applicable OH&S legislation and regulations (national and industry-specific) - The name and title of the top management sponsor who will sign the policy - Your OH&S manager or officer's name and title - Whether you have a safety committee or worker safety representatives - How many first aiders you have and where they are located - Emergency coordination arrangements - How you plan to communicate the policy (notice boards, induction, intranet, other channels) - Whether any interested parties (clients, regulators, unions) have specific policy expectations If you completed the *Organization Profile* skill first, the agent will reference `organization-profile.json` for organizational context, hazard profile, workforce composition, and regulatory environment. This significantly reduces the number of questions needed. The agent produces two documents: `output/OHS-Policy.md` and `output/OHS-Roles-Responsibilities.md`. Both are validated against Clause 5 requirements before finalization. --- Back to [Skill Library](https://rakenne.app/skills/index.md)