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At their most basic level, systems are typically described as having four elements: input, process, output, and feedback. The relationship between these four elements is depicted in Figure 2.

A question that often comes up when talking about an OH&S management system is “what is the difference between a system and program?” One way to describe this difference is in terms of an information feedback loop, that is, feedback in a system is essential and an integral component of the system. Conversely, this is not the case with programmatic approaches where feedback is not necessarily part of a structural design.

A system can be further characterized as being either open or closed. In the case of open systems, there are identifiable pathways whereby the system interacts – exchanging information with and gaining energy – from its external environment. This phenomenon is readily observed in biological systems. Conversely, closed systems do not have such pathways, and thus limit their ability to adapt or respond to changing external conditions.

ISO's guidelines on the development of management system standards defines a management system as a “system to establish policy and objectives and to achieve those objectives” (26). This ISO guideline states that

FIGURE 2 Basic system depiction.

“management systems are used by organizations to develop their policies and to put these into effect via objectives and targets, using: an organizational structure with roles, responsibilities, authorities, etc., of people defined; systematic processes and associated resources to achieve the objectives and targets; measurement and evaluation methodology to assess performance against the objectives and targets, with feedback of results used to plan improvements to the system; and, a review process to ensure problems are corrected and opportunities for improvement recognized and implemented when justified” (26).

ISO 45001:2018 defines a management system (§3.10) as a “set of interrelated or interaction elements of an organization to establish policies and objectives and processes to achieve those objectives” (14). Comments related to this state that: “a management system can address a single discipline or several disciplines; the system elements include the organization's structure, roles, and responsibilities, planning, operation, performance evaluation and improvement; and, the scope of the management system may include the whole of the organization, specific and identified functions of the organization, specific and identified sections of the organization, or one or more functions across a group of the organization.” Given ISO 45001 refers to an OHSMS, the developers of this standard sought further clarification by adding a definition of an OH&S management system as a “management system or part of a management system used to achieve the OH&S Policy” as set by the organization.