ISO 45001:2018 Lead Auditor (OH&SMS) – CQI and IRCA Certified

• The purpose of an occupational health and safety management system, of occupational health and safety management system standards, of management system audit, of third-party certification, and the business benefits of improved performance of the occupational health and safety management system.
• The purpose of an occupational health and safety management system and the business benefits of improving occupational health and safety management system performance.
• The PDCA cycle and its application to occupational health and safety management system processes.
• The processes involved in establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring, measuring, analysing, evaluating, reviewing, maintaining and improving an occupational health and safety management system, including the significance of these for OHSMS auditors.
• The terms and definitions used in ISO 45001.
• State the requirements for OHSMS documented information and explain the difference between maintaining and retaining documented information
• Explain the purpose of and differences between first-party, second-party and third-party certification audit of management systems.
• Explain the role of the occupational health and safety management system auditor in evaluating an organisation’s ability to meet its legal and other requirements, including the difference between this role and the regulatory role of evaluating legal compliance.
• Explain the benefits of third-party accredited certification of occupational health and safety management systems for organisations and interested parties
• Explain the role of an auditor to plan, conduct, report and follow up an occupational health and safety management system audit in accordance with ISO 19011 (and ISO/IEC 17021, as appropriate).
• The audit process including how to conduct, report and follow-up OH&SMS audits based on the ISO 19011 and ISO 17021 where appropriate, including various audit methodologies, questioning techniques, roles and responsibility in order to collect and analyse evidence, exercise objectivity and make decisions on the significance of observation made in accordance to relevant audit criteria.
• Auditor responsibilities.
• Planning the audit.
• Conducting the audit.
• Auditing OHS management system requirements.
• Generating audit findings.
• Reporting the audit.
• Audit follow-up.
• Outline CQI IRCA Auditor Certification requirements.

This course contains a total of 40 hours study time, which necessitates some evening work. For those who are attending the course on a non-residential basis we must stress that the course is very intense and team-based activities extend to each evening (see course times); learners must be prepared for these long hours.

The course has been designed for learners who intend to become practising auditors and is suitable for individuals of any background -- manufacturing, service, public, or private sectors. It will be of particular interest to individuals who have responsibility for conducting external audits either as a single person or in a team, are managing the development and implementation of OH&S Management Systems, and/or who want to enhance their auditing skills and knowledge.

Examples of functions who may wish to attend this course include;

• Staff involved in designing, implementing or managing occupational health and safety management systems
• Staff who have responsibility for internal, external and cross-audits of occupational health and safety
• Health and safety officers and managers
• Technical, quality and environmental managers
• Safety Representatives
• Those wishing to apply for CQI IRCA OH&SMS Auditor grades
• Sub-contractors and suppliers who wish to gain an insight into customer OH&S audits (2nd Party audits) and how they can prepare for and facilitate these audits

On successful completion of this course delegates will have the knowledge and skills to:

Knowledge

• Explain the purpose of an occupational health and safety management system, of occupational health and safety management system standards, of management system audit, of third-party certification, and the business benefits of improved performance of the occupational health and safety management system.
• Explain the role of an auditor to plan, conduct, report and follow up an occupational health and safety management system audit in accordance with ISO 19011 and ISO/IEC 17021, as appropriate.

Skills

• Plan, conduct, report and follow-up an audit of an occupational health and safety management system to establish conformity (or otherwise) with ISO 45001, and in accordance with ISO 19011 and ISO/IEC 17021 where appropriate.

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  Elizabeth Walker

  Elizabeth has extensive industry experience planning, establish...

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  Finbarr Stapleton

  Finbarr Stapleton, Antaris, has a B.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry...

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  Gerry Higgins

  With extensive experience of implementing quality, environmenta...

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  Peter Fleming

  Peter Fleming is an accomplished EHSQ professional with credibl...

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Please note that CQI IRCA recommend that students have a basic knowledge of OH&S issues and the requirements of the current version of ISO 45001 before they start this course.

Delegates who are not familiar with the purpose and intent of the ISO 45001 current standard should familiarise themselves with these before attending this course.

Before starting this course, delegates are expected to have the following prior knowledge:

Management systems

• The Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle.
• The core elements of a management system and the interrelationship between top management responsibility, policy, objectives, planning, implementation, measurement, review and continuous improvement.
• Occupational health and safety management.
• The concepts of managing occupational health and safety through hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control and compliance with legal requirements and other requirements.
• The relationship between occupational health and safety management and the provision of safe and healthy workplaces, the prevention of work-related injury and ill health, and the proactive improvement of health and safety performance.
• Common examples of relevant national and local OH&S legislation and requirements.

ISO 45001
Knowledge of the requirements of ISO 45001 and the commonly used occupational health and safety management terms and definitions, as given in ISO 45001, which may be gained by completing an ISO 45001 Foundation (OHSMS) CQI & IRCA training course or equivalent.

If you have access to a copy of ISO 45001, please bring a clean copy of the standard with you. If you don’t have access, a copy will be provided for you and will be collected at the end of the course.

The CQI IRCA exam is quite challenging with a pass mark of 70%. A good understanding of the ISO 45001 standard is required to achieve a pass mark.

Fluency in spoken and written English is an entry requirement for this course.  For applicants whose first language is not English, SQT recommends a minimum English language competency of IELTS 5.5 (or equivalent) for successful completion of this programme. It is important to note that learners are not expected to have an IELTS or equivalent examination complete. Potential delegates are expected to self-assess their English language competency against the IELTS Band scores which can be found in this document.

Delegates are assessed throughout the course by continual assessment and then by an online examination, completed in the delegates own time, within a 30 day window from the last day of the course.

All Lead Auditor online exams are structured as follows:

Continual assessment is based upon the delegate’s participation and demonstrable performance during the exercises, role-plays, case study and question & answer sessions. It is essential that delegates take an active part in all course activities during the week in order that the tutor can make a full assessment of the delegate’s performance. Feedback on individual delegate’s performance will be provided (confidentially) during the week. Please note it is essential for delegates to be in attendance for the full course.

The exam questions will be a mix of:

• Multiple choice (choose one correct answer)
• Multiple response (choose several correct answers)
• Fill in the blanks (drag and drop the correct words into the sentence)
• Matching (drag and drop responses to correctly match items)
• Sequencing (drag and drop responses to form the correct order)

The last two sections of the exam will include scenario questions related to conducting, reporting on, and closing out audits. You will be asked to evaluate the scenario presented to you and select the correct course(s) of action.

All questions will be computer-marked. Once you have answered a question and clicked Next, you will not be able to navigate backwards to review or change your answer. This is a security measure to reduce the risk of cheating.

The exams are open book, so you can refer to your notes from your training course. However, you are not permitted to use the internet to search for answers to questions. You will need access to a copy of the ISO management systems requirements standard associated with your course to answer some of the questions. The standards can be paper or electronic format.

To help you prepare for your exam, 24 practice questions have been created for the Lead Auditor exam. It is strongly advised that you take the practice questions before taking your online exam to familiarise yourself with the question types and how SARAS works. Access to the practice system and practice questions will be available towards the end of the training.

You will have 30 days from the last day of your course to take your exam.

Exam Results will be issued 7 weeks after course completion.

Pass Mark:
70% for continuous assessment
50% for online exam

IT Requirements for accessing the Proctoring System and other important information are set out in this document – it is important that you familiarise yourself with this document prior to the training and examination.

In-House Courses
For In-house courses the tutor will contact your organisation in advance. In-House courses can be customised to meet your organisation’s specific requirements. Where appropriate, course exercises can be carried out using procedures, data etc. from your organisation.

Course Manual
Delegates will receive a very comprehensive course manual.

This course is certified by CQI IRCA. The International Register of Certificated Auditors (CQI IRCA) is the world's original and largest international certification body for auditors of management systems.

Delegates who successfully complete this CQI and IRCA Certified ISO 45001:2018 Lead Auditor (OHSMS) Training course (within the five years prior to making an application to become a certificated auditor) will satisfy the training requirements for initial certification as an IRCA OHSMS auditor. However, additional educational, work experience and auditing experience requirements apply (see www.IRCA.org).