Clause 6.1.2.1: Hazard identification
Set up, run and keep a hazard identification process that is continuous and looks ahead.
What clause 6.1.2.1 asks
Set up, run and keep a hazard identification process that is continuous and looks ahead. The process shall take into account: social factors and the way work is organized; activities that are routine and those that are not; incidents that have happened before; possible emergencies; people, including workers, contractors, visitors and others; how workplaces and equipment are designed; changes; and changes to legal requirements, whether actual or proposed.
Hazard identification is continuous and forward looking. The listed inputs are the minimum, and the test is whether the process finds the hazard before it finds a worker.
Draft 6.1.2 Hazard identification and assessment of OH&S risks and OH&S opportunities, from clause 6.1.2.1. The draft consolidates hazard identification and the assessment of risks and opportunities into one 6.1.2. The public summaries report an expanded list of factors: new and changing technologies, digital platform-based activities, remote workers, psychosocial hazards, occupational health hazards and climate change impacts.
Evidence for clause 6.1.2.1
An auditor will follow one hazard from how it was found to how it was assessed and controlled, and will ask who reported it.
- Hazard identificationDocumented hazard identification procedure
- Hazard identificationHazard registers by site and activity
- Hazard identificationJob hazard analyses / task risk assessments
- Hazard identificationRecords covering routine, non routine, emergency, contractor, visitor, public
- Hazard identificationPsychosocial and ergonomic hazard assessments
- Hazard identificationWorker reported hazard logs
Where clause 6.1.2.1 commonly fails
- Psychosocial and ergonomic hazards omitted
- Visitors, public and contractors not assessed
- Hazard ID treated as annual rather than ongoing
What to do about clause 6.1.2.1 before the revision
Add the draft's new factors to the identification prompt: remote and hybrid work, platform work, new technology, psychosocial load, occupational health and climate. Show a worker-reported hazard that changed a control. Re-test the process after a change, not only at the annual review.
What the record shows for clause 6.1.2.1
An auditor working on clause 6.1.2.1 will start with Documented hazard identification procedure. The failure this record sees most often is Psychosocial and ergonomic hazards omitted. Both are carried into the kit as row 10, with an owner field and a dated action.
Read across from clause 6.1.2.1
Read the next clause in the group, or open the full index. The revision map shows the draft structure.
Source for clause 6.1.2.1: ISO 45001:2018, clause 6.1.2.1, retrieved 18 October 2026. The draft note rests on the public DIS contents and the two named summaries; the requirement, evidence and gaps are written from the held clause record. Every source.