Coming very soon! ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems - Requirements with guidance for use

ISO 45001, the long-awaited new international standard for Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (OHSMS) received overwhelming approval in the final ballot on the second draft (ISO 45001.2) in January 2018. The standard was first proposed in March 2013 and may now be published as soon as March 2018. Its development has involved an international group of health and safety experts from a range of countries.

The new standard will align with ISO 9001 (Quality Management) and ISO 14001 (Environment Management). This has been achieved by using a 'high level structure' (i.e. clauses, sequence, common text and terminology). This is great news for any organisation seeking to integrate its management systems. It has also been designed to work with any organisation, regardless of size or the nature of the work, to enable the organisation to proactively improve its OHS performance in preventing injury and ill-health. The new standard can be integrated into other health and safety programmes such as worker wellness and wellbeing.

There is a direct correlation between the well-known 'plan-do-check-act' model and the framework of the new standard. At its core lies:

• Leadership and worker participation;
• Planning;
• Support and Operation;
• Performance Evaluation; and
• Improvement.

The new standard aims to improve employee health and safety by systematically reducing health and safety risks and creating healthier, safer working conditions.

These are exciting times in the world of health and safety and an update on the progress of the new standard will be included in the next HAZCON Safety Chat newsletter.