Every year millions of people worldwide die from work-related accidents, injuries and diseases. This is an extremely startling statistic and should be quite alarming to any business or organisation that takes their responsibilities in this important area seriously. The impact of a fatality, a serious accident or simply ill health on an organisation and its workforce can be profound. It can lead to prosecution under the law, civil litigation, the loss of reputation, higher insurance premiums, early retirements, reduced staff moral and much, much more.
ISO 45001 -occupational health and safety management
The ISO (International Organization of Standardization) take the protection of worker safety very seriously and are currently developing an international management standard that covers this very important topic. This new standard called ISO 45001 – Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems is being built around several of the main health and safety standards from around the world including the current British Standard BS OHSAS 18001. Even though 18001 is strictly a British Standard many businesses worldwide have been using it for several years.
Since the protection of the health and safety of workers is a major concern for businesses and organisations worldwide, ISO sees the need to address this topic, and later this year (2017), it is anticipated they will formally publish their new ISO 45001 standard, which deals with Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.
What is ISO 45001?
The basic premise behind the ISO 45001 standard is that it provides a framework to help businesses or organisations improve the safety and health of all employees within their company, to help reduce risks and help create a safer working environment for all businesses worldwide. It is hoped that this new standard will have a far-reaching effect and could make a major dent in the total number of work related accidents that have accounted for millions of deaths or early retirements for decades.
In order to help ensure that this new standard integrates seamlessly with some of the other popular ISO standards that are already in use around the world (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, to name a few) they are using those two standards as a framework on which the new ISO 45001 is built. This will help ensure that it can work hand in hand for those businesses or organisations that have already employed either or both of those ISO standards.
Who would benefit from this new health and safety standard?
Since almost all businesses, large or small employ people to perform functions within their organisation it is highly recommended that they seriously investigate this new ISO standard to keep workers safe. Additionally, it is also being developed in such a way that it will work concurrently will many of the existing health and safety platforms that businesses may already have already in place.
Another big benefit of using this standard is that it can help an organisation ensure compliance with any or all of its legal obligations in the areas of occupational health and safety. That alone should be a big enough reason to seriously consider implementing this management standard.
When will ISO 45001 be available?
According to its website, the ISO standard is currently being finalised and should be available sometime later in 2017. You can continue to check their website for further details about the release date.
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If you would like to learn more about our OHS solutions, and how we can help you develop world-class health and safety management processes please get in touch today.
Further reading…
More information about the ISO 45001 … here →