ISO 45001 guide
ISO 45001 audit questions: what auditors ask managers, workers on the floor and contractors, and the evidence that answers them
Clause by clause: ISO 45001:2018 requirements: every clause explained →
The questions ISO 45001 certification auditors put to top management, the OH&S lead, supervisors, workers on the floor and contractors, the evidence that answers each, how to prepare people without scripting them, and what to avoid on audit day.
Key points
- An ISO 45001 auditor spends much of the audit in the workplace, asking workers, supervisors and contractors how the job is done safely, then checking each answer against a record or the work in front of them.
- The 22 questions below cover the office and the floor, each with the person asked and the evidence that settles it.
- Workers are asked about hazards, stopping unsafe work, reporting and emergencies. Answers in their own words carry weight; recited ones do not.
- Never stage the site, hide high-risk work or argue a finding without evidence. Sterling's mock audit puts these questions first and closes the gaps before the certification body arrives.
What does an ISO 45001 auditor ask, and how?
What does an ISO 45001 certification auditor ask? Open questions about real work: "what could hurt you on this job", "show me the permit", "where would you go if the alarm sounded now". They ask top management, the OH&S lead, supervisors, safety representatives, employees, agency staff and contractors, and each answer is tested against a document, a record or the task being done at that moment. Certification bodies gather evidence in three ways under ISO/IEC 17021-1: interviewing people, observing activities, and reviewing documents and records.
The OH&S rules add a fourth expectation. IAF MD 22, the mandatory document certification bodies apply to OH&S audits, requires the auditor to evaluate the system during operational activities, typically through a tour of facilities and work sites. An auditor who sees a forklift reversing without a banksman will ask the driver, then the supervisor, then open the risk assessment for that task and the driver's training record.
How the audit is planned and sampled is covered in our guide to ISO 45001 Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits.
Questions for top management, the OH&S lead and support functions
In the office, the auditor tests whether safety is led from the top and owned by the line, or held by one officer with a binder.
| Question | Who is asked | Evidence that answers it |
|---|---|---|
| What are your most serious OH&S risks, and what have you personally done about one of them? | Top management | A risk assessment revised after a management decision; the resources approved for the control |
| How do workers who are not managers take part in decisions about safety? | Top management | Committee minutes with worker representatives, hazard reports raised by workers, actions taken on them |
| Show me an OH&S objective that is behind target. What is being done? | Top management | Objectives with figures, dates and owners; progress data; the recovery action |
| Which decision from the last management review changed something on site? | Top management | Review minutes and the completed action, visible in the workplace |
| Have you decided whether climate change is relevant to your OH&S system? | Top management or OH&S lead | A context review recording the decision and the reasoning either way |
| How do you find hazards in non-routine work, such as maintenance or cleaning a line? | OH&S lead | A hazard register covering routine and non-routine tasks; task-specific assessments |
| Show me a risk where you could not eliminate the hazard. Why did you settle on this control? | OH&S lead | An assessment that works down the hierarchy of controls and records why higher options were ruled out |
| Which legal requirements apply here, and when did you last check you meet them? | OH&S lead | A legal register by jurisdiction with owners; the latest evaluation of compliance and actions arising |
| Take me through your last serious incident or near miss. | OH&S lead | An investigation involving workers, the root cause, the revised risk assessment, the corrective action checked for effect |
| How do you select and control contractors? | Procurement | Prequalification criteria and results, safety terms in contracts, performance monitoring |
| How do you know that people in hazardous roles are competent? | HR | A competence matrix per role, licences and training records, including the ability to recognise hazards |
Questions auditors put to workers on the floor
The auditor stops at workstations, loading bays, scaffolds and plant rooms and talks to whoever is there, including agency staff and contractors, because the standard treats everyone working under your control as a worker.
| Question | Who is asked | Evidence that answers it |
|---|---|---|
| What could injure you or make you ill doing this job? | Worker | An answer matching the risk assessment for the task; controls in use at that moment |
| What protects you from that hazard, and what happens if it is missing? | Worker | Guards, interlocks, extraction or PPE in place; the task instruction or method statement |
| If you thought a job was about to hurt you, what would you do? | Worker | A clear account of stopping work and reporting it; awareness briefing records covering imminent and serious danger |
| How do you report a near miss or a hazard? When did you last do it, and what happened? | Worker | The reporting route in use; recent reports with feedback given to the reporter |
| Where do you go if the alarm sounds now? When was your last drill? | Worker | Signed routes and assembly points; drill records with lessons applied |
| Who is your safety representative, and have you ever raised anything with them? | Worker | Representatives known on the floor; issues logged and answered |
| Show me the permit for this job. Who checked the isolation? | Supervisor or permit holder | A completed permit, isolation verified and signed, conditions matching the site |
| How do you know this person is trained to do this task? | Supervisor | Authorisation list or competence card; training record for the named person |
| What do you check before the shift starts? | Supervisor | Pre-start checklists and inspection records, with defects reported and closed |
| What did you learn at your induction here? | Contractor or agency worker | Site induction record; an answer covering site hazards, rules and emergencies |
| Whose rules do you follow on this site, yours or ours? | Contractor | Agreed method statement, contractor inspection records, coordination meeting notes |
Auditors also watch without asking. A worker who is wearing gloves the assessment does not require, or not wearing the ones it does, tells the auditor more than any interview.
How to prepare workers without scripting them
- Walk the task together. Supervisors go through each job's hazards and controls with the crew at the workplace, then ask each person to explain them back.
- Rehearse the three floor questions. What could hurt you, what would you do if it felt unsafe, and how do you report. Any worker should answer these in their own words.
- Include contractors and agency staff. Their supervisors need the same briefing, and their induction records must be findable on the day.
- Brief the practicalities. Who guides each auditor, the areas and shifts to be visited, and the site induction and PPE the audit team will need.
Tell people plainly that the auditor is testing the system. A worker who says "I don't know, I'd ask my supervisor" gives an accurate answer; one who guesses may create a finding that was never there.
What not to do on audit day
- Staging the site. New PPE and freshly cleared walkways on the morning of the visit are obvious, and workers say so when asked.
- Hiding the high-risk work. Postponing hot work or confined-space entry removes the evidence the auditor most needs, and the permit log usually reveals it.
- Coaching contractors to stay away. Contractors are within the system. Keeping them off the route suggests they are outside your control.
- Back-filling records. Drill reports or inspection sheets written in the final week stand out, and turn a gap into a question of integrity.
- Arguing about a finding. Put your evidence to the audit team leader calmly; unresolved disagreements are recorded and the certification body has an appeals process. Grading and closure are covered in our guide to ISO 45001 nonconformities.
How Sterling's mock audit prepares your sites
Once your internal audit and management review are complete, Sterling's expert and experienced consultants run a mock audit the way a certification body runs Stage 2: a plan and opening meeting, management interviews, a tour of the workplaces on each shift in scope, worker and contractor interviews, and a closing meeting.
The difference is what follows. Each finding is graded as a certification body would grade it and closed with your team, with evidence, before the real audit. The failures auditors find most often are gathered in our guide to the ten common ISO 45001 mistakes.
How Sterling prepares your people and sites
Your workers hear the hard questions from us first.
The mock audit is planned from the gap analysis and held in Effivity with its findings and closure evidence, included with the engagement at no additional cost. We ensure successful certification for our clients. The independent, accredited certification body audits and decides; Sterling does not certify.
Book a free discovery callISO 45001 audit questions: questions buyers ask
Will the ISO 45001 auditor interview contractors and agency workers?
Yes, if they work under your control within the certified scope. The standard counts them as workers, so auditors ask about their induction, the rules they follow and how they report hazards, and check the matching records.
Can workers answer the auditor in their own language?
Yes. Tell the certification body at application which languages are spoken on site so it can assign an auditor who speaks them or bring an interpreter. Interpreters must not influence the audit, and interpreting can add audit time.
Will the auditor visit night shifts and remote sites?
It depends on the audit plan. Shift and site coverage is set by the certification body from your scope and risks, so tell it at application which shifts and sites carry the higher-risk work and ask how it will cover them.
What happens if a worker cannot answer a question?
A single hesitation is rarely a finding. The auditor looks for a pattern: if several workers cannot name the hazards of their own task, the finding concerns awareness, training or the risk assessment, not the individual.
Who should guide the auditor around site?
Someone who knows the site's hazards and records and stays silent in interviews, often the OH&S lead or an area supervisor. Each auditor normally has a guide unless the audit team leader and you agree otherwise.
More ISO 45001 guides
Every guide in the ISO 45001 series is written for one question and links back to the hub for the whole picture.
- ISO 45001 certification in Australia
- ISO 45001 benefits
- ISO 45001 certification process, step by step
- ISO 45001 contractor management: prequalification to permits
- ISO 45001 certification cost: what moves the price
- ISO 45001 hazard identification and risk assessment
- ISO 45001 internal audit: planning, conduct and reporting
- ISO 45001 legal register and evaluation of compliance
- ISO 45001 requirements explained, clause by clause
- ISO 45001 timeline
- ISO 45001 training
- Verify a certificate
Keep exploring
Explore more about ISO 45001
Watch a video on how to implement ISO 45001 here.
Watch a video on ISO 45001 requirements here.
ISO 45001 resources
Services for ISO 45001
Talk to a consultant
Prepare your managers, workers and contractors for the ISO 45001 audit questions.
Tell us your goals, locations and target date. We’ll help you define the scope, timeline and next steps.
hello@sterling-grc.com+1 201 263 4443 (global headquarters) · your nearest office and its number are at the top of this page
What would you like to achieve?
Choose a starting point. The enquiry form takes about a minute.
Book my free discovery callContinue to the enquiry form to share your details. Please do not include passwords, sensitive personal information or confidential files. A Sterling consultant replies within one working day. Privacy notice