An organization is responsible for the occupational health and safety of workers and others who can be affected by its activities. This responsibility includes promoting and protecting their physical and mental health.
The adoption of an OH&S management system is intended to enable an organization to provide safe and healthy workplaces, prevent work-related injury and ill health, and continually improve its OH&S performance.

The purpose of an OH&S management system is to provide a framework for managing OH&S risks and opportunities. The aim and intended outcomes of the OH&S management system are to prevent work-related injury and ill health to workers and to provide safe and healthy workplaces; consequently, it is critically important for the organization to eliminate hazards and minimize OH&S risks by taking effective preventive and protective measures.
When these measures are applied by the organization through its OH&S management system, they improve its OH&S performance. An OH&S management system can be more effective and efficient when taking early action to address opportunities for improvement of OH&S performance.
Implementing an OH&S management system conforming to this document enables an organization to manage its OH&S risks and improve its OH&S performance. An OH&S management system can assist an organization to fulfil its legal requirements and other requirements.

The implementation of an OH&S management system is a strategic and operational decision for an organization. The success of the OH&S management system depends on leadership, commitment and participation from all levels and functions of the organization.
The implementation and maintenance of an OH&S management system, its effectiveness and its ability to achieve its intended outcomes are dependent on a number of key factors, which can include:
top management leadership, commitment, responsibilities and accountability;
top management developing, leading and promoting a culture in the organization that supports the intended outcomes of the OH&S management system;

• communication;
• consultation and participation of workers, and, where they exist, workers’ representatives;
• allocation of the necessary resources to maintain it;
• OH&S policies, which are compatible with the overall strategic objectives and direction of the organization;
• effective process(es) for identifying hazards, controlling OH&S risks and taking advantage of OH&S opportunities;
• continual performance evaluation and monitoring of the OH&S management system to improve OH&S performance;
• integration of the OH&S management system into the organization’s business processes;
• OH&S objectives that align with the OH&S policy and take into account the organization’s hazards, OH&S risks and OH&S opportunities;
• compliance with its legal requirements and other requirements.

Demonstration of successful implementation of this document can be used by an organization to give assurance to workers and other interested parties that an effective OH&S management system is in place. Adoption of this document, however, will not in itself guarantee prevention of work-related injury and ill health to workers, provision of safe and healthy workplaces and improved OH&S performance.
The level of detail, the complexity, the extent of documented information and the resources needed to ensure the success of an organization’s OH&S management system will depend on a number of factors, such as:

• the organization’s context (e.g. number of workers, size, geography, culture, legal requirements and other requirements);
• the scope of the organization’s OH&S management system;
• the nature of the organization’s activities and the related OH&S risks.