ISO 45001 Certification in Tangier

ISO 45001:2018 describes what an occupational health and safety management system must contain to be certified. It is the only version in force; a revised version is expected in 2027. Voluntary, the standard does not replace the Labour Code but obliges you to prove that you comply with it.

In Tangier, the pressure comes mostly from Europe. Clothing brands that have goods made in the region impose a code of conduct and social audits of which a whole chapter covers safety: emergency exits, evacuation, machine guards, first aid, chemicals. Car-makers and their tier-one suppliers assess the health and safety of their subcontractors as part of their social responsibility requirements. Logistics firms apply their international customers' safety rules on their docks.

A social audit or a customer audit gives a snapshot at a given date. ISO 45001 installs a system verified every year by an accredited body, which keeps these requirements in place between two visits.

The service is aimed at automotive suppliers based at Tanger Automotive City, in the Tanger Med industrial zones or around the Melloussa assembly plant: wiring, plastic and metal parts, sub-assemblies. It also concerns the region's aeronautics sites, where the process safety culture is already strong but not always formalised for health and safety.

It targets garment and finishing workshops working for European brands, in Tangier as in Tetouan, with their large floors of sewing machines, their fabric stocks and their large workforces.

It finally interests logistics players: free zone warehouses, container stuffing and unstuffing platforms, freight forwarders, and agri-food and seafood companies trading with Spain and the rest of Europe, with their cold rooms and heavily used docks.

Tangier is Morocco's gateway to Europe. The Tanger Med port complex, one of the largest container ports in the Mediterranean, has drawn around it a set of activity zones: Tanger Automotive City, the Tangier Free Zone, the Tanger Med industrial zones. A large car assembly plant at Melloussa has anchored a supplier base in the region, notably in wiring.

Beside automotive, the region hosts aeronautics, a textile and clothing industry working for European brands, and very dense logistics activity. Agri-food and seafood are traded with Spain and the rest of Europe. Tetouan, close by, extends this industrial fabric.

This landscape creates risks of its own. Plants often run several shifts, nights included, with large workforces on one site: evacuation and fire-fighting become major subjects. Warehouses and docks see trucks and containers pass continuously, driven by drivers who are not employees of the site. Activity peaks tied to collections or production programmes lengthen the days and fill the aisles with stock.

ISO 45001 helps handle these subjects in an organised way: a risk assessment that covers every team and every situation, clear rules for outside persons, emergency drills carried out and analysed, legal compliance proven site by site.

Clothing brands check very concrete points during their social audits: emergency exits clear and signposted, evacuation plans displayed, drills carried out on all shifts, extinguishers checked, needle guards and belt guards on machines, first aid kits and first aiders, storage of chemicals. They ask for corrective action plans and check their closure at the next visit.

Automotive customers expect evidence on machine safety, lockout during maintenance, ergonomics of wiring workstations and the handling of emergency situations. Logistics customers ask for loading and unloading rules agreed with carriers, separation of pedestrians and vehicles, training of forklift drivers.

In audits, Tangier sites often stumble on the same findings. Emergency exits are obstructed during production peaks. Evacuation drills are done only with the day shift. No first aider is present on the night shift. Outside drivers move freely on the docks. The risk assessment was not reviewed after the addition of a line or a new storage cell.