Home / ISO 45001 training / Lead auditor course in South Africa
OH&S lead auditor training for South African SHEQ professionals
The ASC course at a glance
- Provider ASC Food Safety Training, South Africa
- Price USD 799, charged as R13 275
- Study time about 44 hours, self-paced
- Format fully online, or in class for teams
- Access 12 months from enrolment
- Level Expert, Level 5
- Audit criteria ISO 45001:2018 with Amd 1:2024
- OH&S auditor competence ISO/IEC TS 17021-10:2018
- OH&S certification rules Global ACI-TECH-3-016
- Virtual audit ASC Steel Structures, 13 steps
- Exams A and B, video proctored
- Recognition Exemplar Global recognised course
An OH&S audit is the one management system audit where the auditor may see someone about to get hurt. That changes how you plan it, who you interview and what you do when you see a crane lifting over people or a worker in a pickling bath area without a face shield. A lead auditor course for ISO 45001 has to train for that as well as for paperwork. What follows is what a course built for South African sites should cover, checked against ASC’s own.
Where can you do ISO 45001 lead auditor training in South Africa?
Anywhere, if the course is online. ASC’s course is fully online and self-paced, with no live sessions and no travel, so it can be taken from any province or from outside South Africa. For teams, ASC also runs it in class in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Gqeberha, or as a live virtual class, and all three formats fall within ASC’s Exemplar Global recognition. At four hours a week the online course takes about eleven weeks.
What does an OH&S lead auditor check that other lead auditors do not?
The people. Of the three management system standards most sites hold, ISO 45001 is the only one with a clause on consultation and participation of workers, 5.4, and the certification rules follow through. Global ACI-TECH-3-016, formerly IAF MD 22, requires the audit team to interview legally responsible management, worker representatives with OH&S responsibilities, the people who monitor workers’ health, managers, and permanent and temporary workers, and recommends interviews with contractor management and contractors’ workers.
| What the OH&S auditor tests | Where it shows up in the audit |
|---|---|
| Hazard identification that covers non-routine work, night shifts and work at customers’ sites | The HIRA register, tested on the floor and on temporary sites |
| Controls chosen by the hierarchy of controls in 8.1.2 | Whether elimination and engineering were considered before PPE and retraining |
| Worker consultation and participation | Interviews with workers and their representatives, in the site’s languages |
| Legal requirements determined, applied and evaluated | The legal register, the appointments and the evaluation of compliance in 9.1.2 |
| Contractors and labour broker workers inside the system | Section 37(2) agreements with contractors, inductions for contractor and labour broker workers, and who supervises whom |
| Incident investigation in 10.2 | From the section 24 report to the root cause and the corrective action |
In ASC’s course a nonconformity is graded major when a legal requirement is not met, not identified, or not evaluated so that the organisation does not know whether it is meeting it. It is also major when a hazard that can cause death, serious injury or serious ill health, or a potential emergency situation, is left without a working control. And when an auditor sees imminent danger, the course teaches you to speak up at once, not at the closing meeting.
Which South African laws does an ISO 45001 lead auditor meet?
The OHS Act and its regulations, most of the time, with the COID Act behind them. Mines are the exception, because they fall under the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 rather than the OHS Act. The auditor does not declare a site legally compliant. He or she tests whether the organisation has identified its legal requirements, applied them and evaluated whether it meets them, and records what was seen.
| Law | What the auditor typically checks |
|---|---|
| Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 | Section 16(2) assignments, section 24 incident reporting, section 37(2) agreements with contractors, health and safety representatives and committees |
| General Administrative Regulations, 2003 | The incident record kept on Annexure 1, and reporting section 24 incidents to the provincial director |
| General Safety Regulations | Personal protective equipment, first aid, flammable liquids, confined spaces, work in elevated positions and welding |
| Driven Machinery Regulations, 2015 | The lifting machinery register, thorough examinations and performance tests by a lifting machinery inspector, tackle inspections and operator certificates |
| Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents, 2021, Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 and Noise Exposure Regulations, 2024 | Risk assessments, exposure monitoring, medical surveillance records |
| Construction Regulations, 2014 | The construction work permit or the notification of construction work, the principal contractor and contractor chain, fall protection plans on temporary sites |
| Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 130 of 1993 | Registration, and the reporting of injuries and diseases |
Our guides to the OHS Act and ISO 45001, 16(2) appointments and 37(2) agreements and what the inspector asks for first go deeper. If you want the law itself section by section, the South African Occupational Health and Safety Law course covers it in about 7 hours.
Practise on a steel works before you lead a real OH&S audit
About 44 hours, self-paced, with the ASC Steel Structures virtual audit and both proctored exams included in the fee.
Enrol now, USD 799Read the course outlineUSD 799, charged in rand as R13 275. International Visa and Mastercard accepted.
Which documents should an ISO 45001 lead auditor course be built on?
| Document | Edition | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 45001 | ISO 45001:2018 with Amendment 1:2024 | The audit criteria, including the climate change determination in 4.1 |
| ISO 19011 | ISO 19011:2026 | How to audit, including remote methods and auditor competence |
| ISO/IEC 17021-1 | ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 | Certification audits, and grading nonconformities major or minor |
| ISO/IEC TS 17021-10 | ISO/IEC TS 17021-10:2018 | Competence of OH&S management system auditors |
| OH&S certification | Global ACI-TECH-3-016 (formerly IAF MD 22) | How ISO/IEC 17021-1 applies to OH&S certification, including interviews, temporary sites and special audits after a serious incident |
| Audit time | Global ACI-TECH-3-004 (formerly IAF MD 5) | OH&S audit time by effective personnel and risk category |
SANAS, South Africa’s accreditation body, holds certification bodies to these documents. Global ACI took over the IAF’s documents on 1 January 2026 and reissued them under the new numbers in July 2026.
Should you wait for the new ISO 45001?
No. A revised ISO 45001 is expected in 2027. Its draft, ISO/DIS 45001, closed its ballot in September 2026, can still change, and no transition period has been set. Until a new edition is published, certification audits are to ISO 45001:2018 with Amendment 1:2024, and that is what the course teaches and assesses. The audit method you learn does not depend on the edition. Lesson 1.4 sets out what is known and what is still draft, and Lesson 8.4 covers the transition once a new edition appears.
What happens in the virtual audit?
You audit ASC Steel Structures, a training case built from real audit patterns. It is a structural steel fabricator and hot-dip galvaniser in Wadeville, Germiston, whose erection crews are putting up a warehouse in Rosslyn, Tshwane. Its welders work under overhead cranes, its galvanising plant pickles steel in hydrochloric acid and dips it in molten zinc at about 450 °C on three shifts, labour broker workers share every shift, and a subcontracted crew bolts rafters together at about 9 m.
In 13 steps you work out the scope numbers, the OH&S risk category and the audit time, decide at Stage 1 whether the company is ready, plan Stage 2 around the night shift and the erection site, interview people from the managing director to the night shift leader and the occupational health nurse, walk the works, the galvanising night shift and the site, follow a galvanising crane from the lifting register to its test certificate and operator certificates against the clock, write and grade findings, hold the closing meeting and judge the corrective action plans. The erection manager will tell you the erection site is the principal contractor’s business, and the managing director will tell you any major for a rafter belongs to the principal contractor. You have to answer both.
How is the ISO 45001 lead auditor course assessed?
Two exams and the virtual audit decide it. Exam A, in two sections, covers OH&S management systems and assesses unit OH. Exam B, in three sections, covers auditing and leading an audit team and assesses units AU and TL. You sit both online on webcam with photo identification, and the only reference you may have open is your own clean copy of ISO 45001:2018 and Amendment 1:2024. The 11 stage quizzes in the virtual audit count towards the units as well. The pass mark is 70 percent in every section. You get three attempts, each with a fresh draw of questions, and the marking is instant, with feedback that sends you back to the right lesson or step. Pass all three units and you receive one ASC Certificate of Achievement.
Is this course the right level for you?
One question settles it. At a cold store a reversing forklift strikes a picker twice in one quarter, and each corrective action reads “driver retrained”. Which clauses of ISO 45001:2018 apply, where does retraining sit on the hierarchy of controls and what would sit higher, and is “driver retrained” a root cause? If you can answer all three in a line each, you are ready. If you are a safety officer wondering how far this course takes you, read how to become an ISO 45001 lead auditor in South Africa. If you will only audit your own organisation, read how to become an ISO 45001 internal auditor in South Africa.
What does an ISO 45001 lead auditor course cost?
ASC Food Safety Training’s ISO 45001:2018 Lead Auditor course costs USD 799, charged in rand as R13 275 at checkout, with no VAT added. That buys 12 months of access, the virtual audit and both proctored exams, with no travel to add. The same design runs in the ISO 9001:2026 Lead Auditor course and the ISO 14001:2026 Lead Auditor course, each USD 999. Buy your own copies of ISO 45001:2018 with Amendment 1:2024, ISO 19011:2026 and ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015, and ideally ISO/IEC TS 17021-10:2018. The Global ACI documents and the South African Acts and regulations are free. Ask for a team quote on WhatsApp.
Questions people ask
Where can I do ISO 45001 lead auditor training in South Africa?
Online, from any province. ASC Food Safety Training’s ISO 45001:2018 Lead Auditor course is fully online and self-paced, with no live sessions. For teams ASC also runs it in class in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Gqeberha, or as a live virtual class.
How much does an ISO 45001 lead auditor course cost in South Africa?
ASC’s course costs USD 799, charged in rand as R13 275 at checkout, with no VAT added. The fee covers 12 months of access, a 13-step virtual audit and two video proctored exams.
Should I wait for the revised ISO 45001, expected in 2027, before doing lead auditor training?
No. A revised edition is expected in 2027, but its draft can still change and no transition period has been set. Certification audits are to ISO 45001:2018 with Amendment 1:2024 until then, and the audit method does not depend on the edition.
Do I need to know the OHS Act for the course?
No. Lessons 1.6 to 1.8 cover the South African OH&S law an auditor meets most often and what an auditor may say about legal compliance. The audit method works under any country’s law.
What is Global ACI-TECH-3-016?
It is the document certification bodies follow when they apply ISO/IEC 17021-1 to OH&S management system certification. It replaced IAF MD 22 in 2026 and covers things such as which people must be interviewed, temporary sites and special audits after a serious incident.
Is ASC’s ISO 45001 lead auditor course recognised?
Yes. Exemplar Global recognises ASC Food Safety as a training provider, and ISO 45001:2018 Lead Auditor is one of the 28 courses that recognition covers, aligned with units OH, AU and TL. It is not CQI and IRCA certified. ASC issues the certificate.
Will the course make me a certified ISO 45001 lead auditor?
No course does that alone. The ASC Certificate of Achievement you earn is proof of training. Certification as an OH&S auditor is a separate step with a personnel certification body, on its own criteria. IRCA, for example, asks for logged audits after an IRCA certified course.
Take the ASC Steel Structures audit from application to close-out
Eight modules with 52 lessons, the ASC Steel Structures virtual audit, two video proctored exams and an ASC Certificate of Achievement covering units OH, AU and TL.
Enrol now, USD 799Read the course outlineUSD 799 (R13 275 at checkout). 12 months of access. Exemplar Global recognised.
Sources
- ASC Food Safety Training, ISO 45001:2018 Lead Auditor (Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems), course page
- Global ACI, TECH-3-016, application of ISO/IEC 17021-1 for OH&S management system certification
- UKAS, publications update August 2026, Global ACI documents that replace IAF MD 5 and MD 22
- ISO/TC 283, news on the revision of ISO 45001
- LRQA, ISO 45001 revision update, DIS ballot
- Credly, Exemplar Global Recognised Training Provider badge issued to ASC Food Safety
