Two-minute brief
ISO 45003 guidance explained: video brief
A two-minute brief on what ISO 45003:2021 recommends for managing psychological health and safety at work.
Key takeaways
- ISO 45003 is guidance that follows the ISO 45001 clause structure.
- The OH&S scope should cover psychological as well as physical health.
- Psychosocial hazards come from three sources.
- Managers need the competence to recognise and act on psychosocial risk.
- Psychosocial risk is audited within ISO 45001 certification.
Guidance that follows ISO 45001
ISO 45003 contains guidance, not shall statements, so nothing in it is auditable as a requirement on its own. It follows the structure of ISO 45001, clauses 4 to 10, so that everything it suggests fits inside an existing occupational health and safety management system, and adds what psychosocial risk needs. This short film walks through it.
Under context, the guidance asks the organisation to understand the issues that shape psychosocial risk and the needs and expectations of workers and other interested parties, and to make sure the system's scope takes in psychosocial risk; in practice a context review that names the pressures on the workforce, consultation records and a scope covering psychological as well as physical health. Under leadership and worker participation, top management shows commitment, and workers take part in identifying hazards and deciding controls.
Hazards, controls and evaluation
Planning covers the identification of psychosocial hazards from three sources, how work is organised, social factors at work, and the work environment, equipment and hazardous tasks, with risks assessed and actions planned. Support covers resources, competence, awareness and communication, including the skills managers need. Operation covers the controls themselves, management of change, and preparing for and responding to situations that affect psychological health. Performance evaluation and improvement complete the cycle with monitoring, audit, review and corrective action.
ISO 45003:2021, the first edition, was published in June 2021 with no amendment. It applies to organisations of any size and sector. There is no certification for it on its own: psychosocial risk is audited within an ISO 45001 certification by the accredited certification body, and any standalone ISO 45003 certificate is unaccredited.
The guidance groups psychosocial hazards under three headings: how work is organised, social factors at work, and the work environment, equipment and hazardous tasks, covering matters such as workload and pace, working hours, role clarity and job control. It is not a well-being programme: it asks the organisation to remove or reduce hazards in the work first and to promote well-being alongside. Surveys are anonymous and reported at a group size that protects individuals, and the guidance covers remote, hybrid, agency and contracted workers.
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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