Implementation walkthrough
How to implement ISO 45003: video walkthrough
A walkthrough of managing psychosocial risk at work with ISO 45003, inside an occupational health and safety management system based on ISO 45001.
Key takeaways
- ISO 45003 gives guidance on psychosocial risk within an ISO 45001 system.
- Hazards come from work organisation, social factors and the working environment.
- Workers are consulted on where psychosocial hazards lie.
- Controls should change how work is organised and led, not only support individuals.
- There is no accredited standalone ISO 45003 certificate.
Psychological health treated like any other hazard
ISO 45003 is the first international standard on psychological health and safety at work. It gives guidelines for managing psychosocial risk within an occupational health and safety management system based on ISO 45001, so that an organisation prevents work-related injury and ill health and promotes well-being at work. In the standard's framing, psychosocial hazards arise from three sources: how work is organised, social factors at work, and the work environment, equipment and hazardous tasks.
It treats psychological health the way ISO 45001 treats every other hazard: identified, assessed, controlled and reviewed. It contains guidance, not requirements, so there is no ISO 45003 certificate on its own; where an organisation holds ISO 45001, psychosocial risk is audited within that certification. This short film walks through how the guidance is put into practice.
Inside the OH&S management system
Define the scope and the workforce it covers: the sites, functions, shifts and employment arrangements, including remote, shift and high-pressure work, and the contractors who work alongside employees. The context review then names the pressures on the workforce, and consultation with workers shapes what follows, because they know where the hazards lie.
Hazards are identified across the three sources, how work is organised, social factors and the working environment, and risks are assessed with managers and workers together. Controls are chosen to change how work is organised and led wherever possible, rather than relying only on individual support, and they are built into the existing processes of the OH&S management system: competence and awareness for managers, communication, operational planning, emergency arrangements, and monitoring through indicators, internal audit and management review. Leadership commitment and worker participation are visible throughout.
Sterling's expert and experienced consultants support hazard identification, risk assessment and the integration of controls with your managers under Sterling OS™. The decisions on how work is organised and led remain the organisation's own. ISO 45003:2021 is the first edition, published in June 2021.
ISO 45003 at a glance
- Purpose
- Manage psychosocial risk, the hazards in how work is organised, social factors at work and the work environment, and promote well-being, inside an OH&S management system based on ISO 45001
- Relevant to
- Organisations of any size and sector, from ISO 45001-certified companies to BPOs, hospitals, contractors and professional firms with shift, remote or high-pressure work
- Edition
- ISO 45003:2021, the first edition, published in June 2021 by ISO/TC 283, with no amendment; ISO's systematic review of the edition closed in September 2026, outcome yet to be announced
- Certification
- None on its own. ISO 45003 gives guidelines, not requirements; psychosocial risk is audited within an ISO 45001 certification by the accredited certification body, and any standalone ISO 45003 certificate is unaccredited
- Sterling's role
- Hazard identification and risk assessment with your managers and workers, controls inside your OH&S system, Effivity, training and the first evaluation cycle, then Sustain™
- Cost and timing
- Total investment for an ISO 45003-based psychosocial risk management programme depends on the current maturity of your processes, the scope, locations and number of employees. The process typically takes 3 to 6 months
ISO 45003: questions people ask
Can an organisation be certified to ISO 45003?
Not on an accredited basis. ISO 45003 is a guidance standard with no requirements, so there is nothing to accredit certification against. Some certification bodies offer their own unaccredited certificate or verification against ISO 45003: a scheme of the body's design, useful for internal assurance, but not accredited certification and not equivalent to an ISO 45001 certificate.
What is the difference between ISO 45003 and ISO 45001?
ISO 45001 is the requirements standard for an OH&S management system: it uses "shall", is audited clause by clause and can be certified by an accredited body. ISO 45003 follows the same clause structure but contains guidance on one family of hazards. ISO 45001 already requires hazard identification to consider how work is organised, social factors, leadership and culture; ISO 45003 explains how to do it.
Do we need ISO 45001 before we can use ISO 45003?
No. ISO/TC 283, the committee that wrote both, says ISO 45003 can be used by organisations without a formal OH&S management system. It is written to complement ISO 45001 and works best inside one, because the consultation, competence, incident and review processes are already there to carry it.
What counts as a psychosocial hazard under ISO 45003?
The standard groups psychosocial hazards under three headings: how work is organised, social factors at work, and the work environment, equipment and hazardous tasks. In everyday terms that covers workload and pace, working hours, role clarity, job control, change, remote and isolated work, job security, relationships, leadership and culture, recognition, support, violence, harassment and bullying, and the conditions and equipment people work with.
Is ISO 45003 the same as a mental health or well-being programme?
No, although the two should work together. A well-being programme offers support; ISO 45003 requires the organisation to find the hazards in the work and remove or reduce them first, then to promote well-being alongside. Counselling for a chronically understaffed team treats the symptom; the guidance expects the staffing to be addressed.
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