ISO 45001 consultant in Morocco: certification and 2027 revision

What does ISO 45001 certification prove?

It proves that an independent certification body has checked that your occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system meets the requirements of ISO 45001, and that it will keep checking every year. It does not prove that no accident will happen. It proves a method: knowing your hazards, assessing your risks, involving workers, meeting your legal obligations, controlling operations and learning from every incident.

Typical sites we work with have visible risks: a fish cannery in Agadir with cold stores and line speeds, a packaging plant in Kénitra with extruders and inks, a construction contractor in Casablanca or Abidjan with scaffolding and subcontractors, a logistics platform near Tanger Med with forklifts and loading bays. The request usually comes from a main contractor or a European buyer. The benefit for the company lies elsewhere: fewer accidents, fewer stoppages, and teams who understand why a rule exists.

Which edition should you target, with a revision expected in 2027?

ISO 45001:2018, the only edition in force. The ISO committee responsible for the standard, ISO/TC 283, announced on 15 December 2023 that the revision of ISO 45001 had been approved, the first formal review since 2018, and that the revised edition would not be published before 2027. A draft international standard has been circulating since 2026: the DIN catalogue, Germany’s national standards body, lists its July 2026 edition.

A draft is not a requirement. It can still change, and nobody gets certified against a draft. In November 2026, the list of Global ACI transition documents (Global ACI took over the role of the IAF in accreditation) covers ISO 9001:2026, ISO 14001:2026, ISO/IEC 17024:2026 and ISO 37001:2025, but nothing for ISO 45001. The transition period to the next edition has therefore not been set.

The publication date of the revised version and the length of its transition are to be followed on the ISO and Global ACI websites; until then, ISO 45001:2018 remains the only certifiable version.

Our advice: do not wait, and do not build on a draft. A system grounded in a real risk assessment, effective participation and evidenced compliance will carry over unchanged in substance; adapting to the new edition will be a targeted review.

How do you carry out a credible occupational risk assessment?

Start from the work as it is actually done, work unit by work unit, with the people who do it. ISO 45001:2018 separates hazard identification, the assessment of OH&S risks and other risks to the management system, and the assessment of opportunities. It covers routine and non-routine activities, emergencies, everyone on site (employees, agency workers, contractors, visitors), and also how work is organised, including social factors such as workload, working hours and harassment.

The standard is a paid text: this page summarises its requirements in our own words, without reproducing its numbering or wording.

Controls are then chosen in the order set by the standard, the hierarchy of controls:

1. eliminate the hazard;
2. substitute with less hazardous processes, materials or equipment;
3. use engineering controls and reorganise the work;
4. use administrative controls, including training;
5. provide adequate personal protective equipment.

The most common audit finding is jumping straight to the last line: a fall risk handled with a harness when a fixed platform would have removed work at height altogether. The second is scoring without action: a completed risk matrix with no plan, no owner and no date.

Which hazards should you look at in your sector?

The Global ACI document for OH&S certification gives examples of common hazards for each economic sector. They are only examples, but they show what an auditor expects to see addressed.

How do you organise worker consultation and participation?

By giving non-managerial workers a real role, and keeping evidence of it. ISO 45001:2018 places this requirement in its leadership chapter. Consulting means seeking their views before a decision; participation means involving them in the decision, for example in assessing the risks of their own job, choosing controls or investigating an incident. The standard also asks organisations to remove barriers to participation: language, literacy, shift patterns, fear of reprisals, or the absence of any response to what workers report.

In Morocco, the safety and hygiene committee is a natural channel. The Labour Code requires it from 50 employees (Article 336) and seats, alongside the employer, the head of safety and the occupational physician, two employee delegates and, where they exist, one or two trade union representatives (Article 337). But a committee brings together representatives, at least four times a year. It does not always reach the night shift, the seasonal workers of a fruit packhouse or a contractor’s staff. In other countries the legal channel differs; the principle does not.

What works on the ground:

• short toolbox talks at the start of each shift, in Arabic, Darija, French or English, whichever the team speaks;
• risk assessments of a job carried out with the people who do it, not in an office;
• simple near-miss reporting followed by a visible response;
• trained committee members who prepare meetings with data;
• written feedback to the teams after every incident investigation.

The auditor will check. The Global ACI document for OH&S certification requires the audit team to interview the management with legal responsibility for OH&S, the employees’ representatives with OH&S responsibilities, the personnel who monitor employees’ health (doctors, nurses), managers, and permanent and temporary employees. These people are invited to the closing meeting, and any absence must be justified.

Which legal requirements must an ISO 45001 system cover?

All the OH&S law that applies to your site. For a site in Morocco, that starts with the Labour Code (Law No. 65-99), published in Arabic by the ministry in charge of employment. The table below is our reading in English, mapped to where an ISO 45001:2018 system handles each point. For sites elsewhere in Africa or the Middle East, the same register is built on local texts.

We checked each of these articles against the French text of the Labour Code published on the Ministry of Justice’s Adala portal; only the Official Bulletin is authoritative. A site’s legal register does not stop at the Code: it also includes the texts on compensation for work accidents and occupational diseases, the implementing texts on occupational health services and the texts on specific risks (electricity, lifting, chemicals). Those are selected site by site, according to the real activities and equipment, and each one goes into the register with its official source.

What the certification body checks on legal compliance

The Global ACI document for OH&S certification has a full appendix on legal compliance. In practice:

• before certification, the organisation must show, through its own evaluation of compliance, that it meets its OH&S legal requirements;
• where there is a gap, it must show a dated implementation plan to reach full compliance, agreed with the regulator wherever possible; certification is then exceptional, and only if no serious risk is left uncontrolled;
• deliberate or consistent non-compliance precludes certification, or leads to suspension or withdrawal;
• auditors are not labour inspectors: they do not declare a company compliant, they verify its evaluation of compliance.

In short, the legal register is not an appendix to the system. It is often the first document the auditor opens.

How does ISO 45001 certification work?

In two stages, as for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: stage 1 checks that the system is ready, stage 2 that it works on the ground. The certificate then runs for a three-year cycle with annual surveillance audits, followed by recertification. The Global ACI document for OH&S certification adds rules specific to health and safety:

• the application describes the main hazards and risks, the main hazardous materials used, the applicable legal obligations and the staff working away from the premises;
• temporary sites such as construction sites are covered by the system of the organisation that controls them, wherever they are, and audited on a sample basis;
• in a multi-site group, sampling sites is not appropriate where activities, processes and risks differ from one site to another;
• the certified organisation informs the certification body without delay of any serious incident or breach of regulation that involves the competent authority; a special audit may follow.

Consultant or certification body: who does what?

The consultant helps you build and run the system; the certification body audits it. Global ACI states that, in OH&S, acting as OH&S coordinator, safety reporting, risk assessment, communicating with regulators on the client’s behalf and accident investigation all count as consultancy. A certification body cannot provide them to an organisation it certifies. At ACG, our consultants run this work with your teams, who keep ownership of it; they stand beside you on audit day, but they do not audit.

When choosing a certification body, check that it is accredited for ISO 45001 in your sector and identify its accreditation body. In Morocco, the Ministry of Industry and Trade publishes, on its online documents page, lists of management system certification bodies accredited to NM ISO/IEC 17021-1, dated 2020 and 2021. As of 6 November 2026, the most recent is the version of 1 June 2021 (in French): check directly with the body, accreditation certificate in hand, that it is still accredited for ISO 45001 in your sector. SEMAC is listed among the associate members of Global ACI, not yet signatories of its mutual recognition arrangement: a SEMAC-accredited certificate does not yet benefit from that multilateral recognition.

Are you ready for stage 1?

• Scope defined, including temporary sites, off-site work and contractors.
  
• OH&S policy signed, measurable objectives and an annual prevention programme.
  
• Risk assessment up to date for every work unit, done with operators.
  
• Controls chosen according to the hierarchy of controls, with owners and dates.
  
• Register of OH&S legal requirements kept up to date, one evaluation of compliance completed.
  
• Safety committee meeting at the legal frequency where required, minutes and annual report available.
  
• Consultation and participation of non-managerial workers evidenced.
  
• Permits to work and contractor requirements applied.
  
• At least one emergency drill carried out and debriefed, first aiders appointed per workshop.
  
• Accidents and near misses investigated, corrective actions followed up.
  
• One full cycle of internal audits, a management review and a mock audit completed.
  

How do you integrate ISO 45001 with ISO 9001:2026 and ISO 14001:2026?

By building one system, not three. The three standards share the same clause logic: context, leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation, improvement. According to the Global ACI transition documents, ISO 9001:2026 and ISO 14001:2026 align with Annex SL and the ISO harmonized structure; ISO 45001:2018 follows the same clause logic, and ISO highlights, on the standard’s page, its alignment with other management system standards and the possibility of integrating it with them.

An integrated QHSE system shares one process map, one document control system, one audit programme and one management review. Environment and OH&S also share a legal register and emergency plans (fire, spills, leaks). Moroccan law makes the same link: the safety committee also watches over environmental protection inside and around the company (Article 338).

Integration has a limit: occupational risk assessment and worker participation cannot be derived from a quality process or an environmental aspects register. The full method, the table of common and specific requirements and the combined audit rules are on our integrated QHSE management system page. See also ISO 9001 certification, ISO 14001:2026 and the QHSE and ISO systems overview.

How can related training be funded?

Consultancy and the certification audit are paid by the company. In Morocco, training included in a training plan (ISO 45001:2018 requirements, risk assessment, committee members, internal auditors, first aid) may be reimbursed under the OFPPT special training contracts (CSF), at the rates in force and within a ceiling based on the vocational training tax declared. These rules come from the CSF procedures manual of May 2006, amended by amendment No. 2 of 2 June 2014 (in French): rates apply to the cost excluding VAT and to in-person training only. The GIAC may support training engineering, under its procedures manual, up to 100,000 DH per year per company. Points specific to your file are confirmed with OFPPT, on its CSF page, or with the competent GIAC.

We never promise an amount; we run a simulation on your actual situation (see CSF and OFPPT funding). Courses are listed under occupational health and safety and ISO standards training, and the ISO 45001 certification path under custom programmes and paths. Courses run in French, Arabic and English, with Spanish and Portuguese on request.

How do you keep the certificate and prepare for the revision?

By keeping the system alive between audits. An OH&S system that only runs for the audit shows quickly: a risk assessment never reviewed after a new line, a committee that stopped meeting after an accident, permits to work signed after the job. Maintenance rests on five routines:

1. review the risk assessment at every change: new equipment, new chemical, new contractor;
2. keep regulatory watch and evaluate compliance at set intervals;
3. investigate every accident and near miss, and follow actions until they are effective;
4. carry out planned internal audits and emergency drills;
5. hold a management review that decides, using the results of worker consultation.

For the revision expected in 2027, we will follow the publication and the Global ACI transition document, then review your system with you. ACG can also take on these routines: outsourced internal audits (audits and inspections), regulatory watch, or a part-time QHSE manager (outsourced QHSE).