International Occupational Health and Safety Standard

Development of an international Occupational Health and Safety Standard has been under works for some time now. This Standard, named ISO 45001, aims to assist companies to developing robust frameworks within their business processes to minimize the risk of harm from workplace injuries, accidents and long-term health issues. Following the Integrated Management Systems approach, ISO 45001 will be based on the common elements of ISO's other management system standards, and will therefore be compatible with newer versions of ISO 9001 and ISO14001. It is expected to use a Plan-Do-Check-Act model for companies to measure their processes against minimising risks of harm. It has now reached Draft stage and national member bodies of ISO have been invited for comment. If all goes well, the Standard should be published in late 2016/early 2017. In the interim, safety management is captured in the AS/NZ 4801 Occupational Health and Safety Standard, and the Safety Module of the People and Talent Management Standard.