Clause 4.3: Determining the scope of the OH&S management system
In defining the scope, the organization works out where the system's boundaries lie and what it applies to, taking into account its external and internal issues, the requirements of interested parties, and the work-related activities it plans or carries out.
What clause 4.3 asks
In defining the scope, the organization works out where the system's boundaries lie and what it applies to, taking into account its external and internal issues, the requirements of interested parties, and the work-related activities it plans or carries out. The system covers those activities, products and services that the organization controls or influences and that can affect its OH&S performance, and the scope is available as documented information.
Scope is a promise about which work the system covers. It has to be wide enough to include the activities the organization controls or influences that can affect OH&S performance, and specific enough that a reader can tell what is inside it.
Which remote workers and places are inside the boundary. The public scope covers both a workplace the remote worker selects and a workplace the organization determines, at a location not under the organization's direct control. It also says the document is for regular remote workers who work remotely on a recurring basis and does not cover offsite work or business trips. The system scope should say which of those groups it includes and which it leaves out, by activity and by worker group rather than by address.
Basis: ISO, BSI Standards Development. For clause 4.3, the public record is a draft guideline and does not state a requirement in terms that this site can quote. The clause 4.3 overlay is our reading of the public scope and the named summaries, not the draft text.
Evidence for clause 4.3
An auditor will compare the scope statement with the site list, the contractor list and the work done at customer premises, and ask why anything is outside.
- Scope definition Documented scope statement covering sites, activities and workers
- Scope definition Justification for any activity outside scope
- Scope definition Evidence the scope covers contractors and off-site work under the organization's control
Where clause 4.3 commonly fails
- High-risk activities carved out of scope without justification
- Scope names locations but not activities
- Work performed at customer sites excluded
What to do about clause 4.3 before the guidance lands
Rewrite the scope by activity and worker group. State whether recurring home work, hybrid work, mobile roles and client-site work are inside the boundary, name the exclusion for occasional offsite work and business travel, and record the reason for each exclusion.
For clause 4.3, do the work that will be right under either instrument. The current requirement for clause 4.3 is ISO 45001:2018, and the certificate, if you hold one, is issued against it. The clause 4.3 remote working preparation is an extension of the existing duty to a group of workers the system already covers, not a new system and not a reason to rebuild around a draft.
Read across from clause 4.3
Open the full index. The public record behind clause 4.3 shows the scope and the themes.
Source for clause 4.3: ISO 45001:2018, clause 4.3, retrieved 20 October 2026, record at the standards library. The clause 4.3 remote overlay rests on the public 45008 record named above. The clause 4.3 requirement, evidence and gaps are written from our clause record. Every source.