Draft Occupational Health and Safety International Standard ISO 45001 - update

In the last issue of Safety Chat, we ran an article entitled 'Is the proposed International Standard ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Requirements with guidance for use, the future of health and safety?' The latest news is that after a successful 88% positive ballot vote, the standard is likely to become a full International Standard in February 2018.

ISO 45001 will be the first global Occupational Health and Safety standard. Its elements will enable it to be aligned or integrated with other management systems such as those for quality, environment or financial manage

ment. In other words, these standards will have a common footprint.

To recap, the new standard will cover:

• Context of the organization
• Leadership and worker participation
• Planning
• Support
• Operation
• Performance evaluation
• Improvement

ISO 45001 will replace the widely implemented OHSAS 18001. It is anticipated that organizations currently certified to OHSAS 18001 will need to migrate to ISO 45001 within three years of the new standard's publication, as OHSAS 18001 is likely to be withdrawn. There is still no news on the future for AS/NZS 4801:2001 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems of which many Australian organisations will be aware of.