1. ©Karyn Taylor Cell: 083 308 1719 Fax: 086 6001043
Email: Karyn@kttaylorconsulting.com;www.kttaylorconsulting.com
SANS 16001:2013
Wellness and Disease Management
System
(including HIV & TB)
What is it?
Does my workplace need it?

2. ©Karyn Taylor Cell: 083 308 1719 Fax: 086 6001043
Email: Karyn@kttaylorconsulting.com;www.kttaylorconsulting.com
KT Taylor Consulting
Designing Workplace Wellness
SANS 16001:2013 Wellness and Disease Management System (including HIV & TB).
What is it?
It is a standard developed by technical experts through South Africa Bureau of Standards (SABS).
The standard provides a framework from which the workplace can develop effective and efficient
responses to their identified wellness and disease risks.
The focus is on the management of non-occupationally related illnesses and other issues that can
negatively (or positively if well managed) impact on the employer and employee. Namely loss of
productivity, increased absenteeism, poor performance, poor employee engagement and potential
dismissal for incapacity ill-health or dismissal in general.
These non-occupationally induced wellness and disease issues are not traditionally managed under
Occupational Health & Safety or OHSAS 18001 / ISO 45001.
Successful implementation of this standard will result in a reduction in absenteeism, increasing
productivity and improved employee engagement.
Why was it developed?
It has been recognized world-wide that non-occupationally induced wellness and disease issues have a
big impact on the workplace in terms of lost productivity and increasing absenteeism.
Yet is has not been effectively managed, or even considered a risk management issue.
The technical team felt that a framework for workplaces to manage their risks within would provide
the necessary guideline for successful return on investment.
How can it help my workplace?
It provides a structured framework and has a strong focus on managing for impact (measurable
change) and not just as a checklist exercise. This will assist the management team to determine the
return on investment especially during the evaluation stage.
It will profile your workplace as a responsible employer and provide your clients the assurance that
your workplace has addressed all the risks to productivity, absenteeism and employee engagement.
With efficient use of resources and effective management of the wellness programmes, your
workplace will see returns on investment (ROI model: financial, social, learning, performance, service
delivery).
After successful implementation of the standard you can ask for an external auditor to audit your
system for certification. This certification is the pinnacle of achievement upon which your organization
can showcase the efforts made by your wellness management team.

3. ©Karyn Taylor Cell: 083 308 1719 Fax: 086 6001043
Email: Karyn@kttaylorconsulting.com;www.kttaylorconsulting.com
How can it help my employees?
Your employees gain assurance that the wellness and disease risks within the workplace are being
effectively managed. The employees are provided with the resources, knowledge and guidance in
order to make good choices about their health. A healthy and productive employee is able to provide
for him/herself and the his/her family. It recognizes the dignity of the employee which opens the space
for increased dialogue and engagement.
What do I need to do in order to align to this standard?
1. Discuss with Senior Management, to garner their support for aligning to this standard. This is
critical as leadership is a crucial component to the successful implementation of the standard.
2. Purchase the standard from SABS (link http://store.sabs.co.za/sans-16001-2013-ed-2-00).
3. Go through the standard and slowly implement the requirements clause by clause.
4. You can request an external service provider to give you training on this standard (it is usually 5
days).
How much will it cost to implement and how long will it take?
That depends on where you currently are in implementation of wellness and disease management
programmes. What data you have available to understand your health risks. The size of your organization.
How quickly you want to implement, how big you want your programme to be. My suggestion is take it
slowly (2-3 years for implementation), this will ensure a good solid foundation. Resources are often
readily available within the organization and an astute consultant can assist you to utilize what you have
access to already without blowing your budget.
Is this for only very large companies?
No, any size company can implement a wellness and disease management system. The standard is not
prescriptive, other than the response to your risks should be ‘’appropriate to the nature and scale of your
business’’.
Use the standard as framework, it provides excellent guidance irrespective of the size of your business.
Do I have to go for certification?
No, you do not. Some workplaces want to have an external auditing organization to come on-site and
audit for certification. This certification is the final assurance of alignment to the standard, successful
implementation and recognition of the management of your workplace non-occupational risks.
However, this is not required. You can conduct an internal audit of your system to assure yourself of
compliance.
In fact, you don’t even have to do this, as this standard is not a legal requirement. It is voluntary, you can
determine how far and how much you will do.
Obviously if you want to be audited and or to get certification full alignment is required.
It is an exciting standard, an excellent tool to assist any Wellness Manager or workplace.
How is my workplace doing?
See the questionnaire at the end of this document to assess how far you are in your wellness and disease
management process. This questionnaire is a guideline only, but is helpful to see your key gaps.

4. ©Karyn Taylor Cell: 083 308 1719 Fax: 086 6001043
Email: Karyn@kttaylorconsulting.com;www.kttaylorconsulting.com
SANS 16001:2013 Wellness and Disease Management System (including HIV & TB)
Addresses: Non-occupational illnesses, health issues, personal issues that negatively and or positively
impacts on the workplace.
Below are the 11 domains health and wellness, that SANS 16001:2013 refers to:

5. ©Karyn Taylor Cell: 083 308 1719 Fax: 086 6001043
Email: Karyn@kttaylorconsulting.com;www.kttaylorconsulting.com
The SANS 16001:2013 utilises the APIME model as its framework
A simple explanation of the APIME model
Assessment Assess your workplace wellness and disease risks
Planning Prioritize and plan to mitigate the identified risks
Implementation Implement the plan and system
Monitoring
Monitor the plan and system against success indicators and re-align where
necessary
Evaluation Evaluate that the plan and system provided measurable positive impact (ROI)
(all graphics in this document purchased from Adobe Stock under license to Karyn Taylor)
Assessment
Planning
Implementa-
tion
Monitoring
Evaluation

6. ©Karyn Taylor Cell: 083 308 1719 Fax: 086 6001043
Email: Karyn@kttaylorconsulting.com;www.kttaylorconsulting.com
Assess your workplaces’ current Wellness and Disease Management System
(Use this simple checklist to give you a basic overview of your current system.
Score your workplace by answering these questions and adding up the score at the end).
No Question
Yes
(3 marks)
In progress
(2 marks)
No
(1 mark)
What is
this?
(0 marks)
1
Have you assessed your wellness
and disease risks (non-occupational
risk assessments)?
2
Have you prioritized your risks as
per no 1 above?
3
Do you have a current Wellness &
Disease management policy?
4
Do you have an adequate budget
for successful implementation?
5
Is there a workplace strategy for the
management of wellness and
disease risks?
6
Have the policy statements of
intention been implemented?
7
Do you have a project plan for
implementation?
8
Are objectives, targets and success
indicators attached to the project
plan?
9
Do you have a fully represented,
active wellness and disease
committee / project team?
10
Have all the necessary procedures
been developed in order to
successfully implement, manage
and improve upon the system?
11
Have all the necessary documents
and records been aligned to
document and records control?
12
Have roles and responsibilities been
defined and signed off by relevant
stakeholders?
13
Have all roles, required
documentation, policy, strategy
been communicated to employees?
14
Have legal and other requirements
been considered during the
development of the system?
15
Have emergency response
measures been considered and
management thereof been
implemented?
16
Have resources for the successful
implementation been identified?
Total this page

7. ©Karyn Taylor Cell: 083 308 1719 Fax: 086 6001043
Email: Karyn@kttaylorconsulting.com;www.kttaylorconsulting.com
No Question Yes
(3
marks)
In
progre
ss (2
marks)
No
(1
mark)
What
is this?
(0
marks)
17
Has a training needs analysis been
conducted for relevant
stakeholders?
18
Has the SDF (skills development
facilitator) been advised of the
training required; for reporting on
the WSP (works skills plan) and ATR
(annual training report)?
19
Has training commenced? Or a
training schedule been developed?
20
Have service providers been
selected based on defined criteria
and outcomes required for your
programmes?
21
Do you have monitoring and
evaluation process in place?
22
Does your senior management
review your programme at regular
intervals?
Total this page
Total page 1 and page 2 of questionnaire
Score
45 - 66
Well done you are well on your way.
If you want to align to SANS 16001: 2013, now is the time to purchase it.
You can call for a gap audit to determine gaps in your system and see how far you
are from certification.
23 - 44
There is definite commitment from your workplace to implement a Wellness and
Disease Management programme.
SANS 16001:2013 Wellness and Disease Management system standard will help
you to develop a good framework. Go on a SANS 16001 implementation course as
this will provide you with a deeper understanding of the standard and how to
implement a successful system.
12 - 22
Starting out.
This is a great place to begin and I recommend beginning slowly. Use SANS
16001:2013 to assist you to develop a system. Give yourself 2-3 years of
implementation before going for certification. You will have a strong foundation
and a deep understanding of your workplace health and wellness profile.
0 -11
Help is at hand.
If your workplace wants to implement a Wellness and Disease management
system, go to my website for resources or contact me and I will assist wherever I
can. Use this checklist to give you some guidance. Purchase the SANS 16001:2013
standard, employ a consultant to assist you or go for training on the standard.
All the very best on your journey to Wellness in the Workplace.