Psychosocial riskISO 45003:2021

ISO 45003 Awareness

How ISO 45003 guides organizations to identify, assess and manage psychosocial risk within an OH&S management system, and where this course's awareness ends.

8 modules + assessment35–50 minutesReviewed 19 September 2026
An ISO 45003:2021 psychological health and safety awareness poster: understand psychosocial risks, promote open communication, support wellbeing and build healthier workplaces
Language
Module 1

What ISO 45003 is, and how it relates to ISO 45001

ISO 45003:2021 is Occupational health and safety management — Psychological health and safety at work — Guidelines for managing psychosocial risks. Unlike ISO 45001, it is not a requirements standard an organization is certified against. It is guidance: practical direction for identifying, assessing and managing psychosocial risk within an OH&S management system, typically one built on ISO 45001's structure.

How it relates to ISO 45001's planning clause

ISO 45001's planning clause, Clause 6, covered in the Academy's ISO 45001 Awareness course, already requires organizations to identify hazards and assess OH&S risk across their activities. Psychosocial hazards are one category of OH&S hazard within that scope, alongside physical, chemical and other hazard types. ISO 45003 does not add a new requirement on top of ISO 45001. It explains, in detail, how to apply that existing planning requirement to this particular hazard category.

What it's for

Its stated purpose is to help organizations prevent work-related injury and ill health connected to psychosocial hazards, and to promote wellbeing at work, alongside the wider OH&S outcomes ISO 45001 already targets.

Knowledge checkIs ISO 45003 a certifiable standard like ISO 45001?

No. It is guidance, not a certification requirements standard. It supports psychosocial risk management within an OH&S management system, typically one following ISO 45001's structure.

Sources

Primary sources and further reading

  1. ISO, ISO 45003:2021 — Occupational health and safety management — Psychological health and safety at work — Guidelines for managing psychosocial risks
  2. ISO, ISO 45001:2018 — Occupational health and safety management systems — Requirements with guidance for use
  3. ISO, Management system standards (Harmonized Structure overview)

Editorial owner: HSE Hub Editorial

Last verified: 19 September 2026

Review trigger: Review immediately after a material change to ISO 45003's published edition or its relationship to ISO 45001, and at least annually.

Professional boundary: General education only. This course is not medical or psychological diagnosis training. Do not use it as the sole basis for implementing, auditing or certifying an OH&S management system, or for assessing an individual's mental health.