The availability of the requirements of the international standard ISO: 45001:2018 for occupational safety and health management in Iraqi organizations: Comparative applied research in the Diyala and Salah Al-Din electricity distribution departments

Abstract

The research aims to evaluate the actual reality of occupational health and safety management in the Diyala and Salah al-Din Electricity Distribution Departments. Then determine the possibility of applying the international standard ISO: 45001:2018 in them. This was after diagnosing the gap between the actual reality and the requirements of the targeted specification, and from this standpoint the research problem raised questions to the effect of (to what extent is the occupational health and safety management system available in the Diyala and Salah al-Din Electricity Distribution Departments in accordance with the requirements of the international standard ISO: 45001:2018? And what is the extent of the gap between reality? Actual and specification requirements? Several hypotheses were formulated to answer these questions. We also adopted the case study approach and used the Checklist as a main tool in the research, which included the seven (7) main items of the standard. It was found that the percentage of availability of the specification items (ISO: 45001:2018) in general was (64%, with a gap of (36%) in the Diyala Electricity Distribution District, and (76.7%), with a gap of (23.2%) in the Salah al-Din Electricity Distribution District. It became clear that there was a significant difference in application, as preference was given to the Salah al-Din Distribution District. As a result of these results, a set of recommendations were presented with the aim of addressing the weaknesses in the two departments under study, leading to bridging or reducing the gap to effectively implement the occupational safety and health management system.