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More than 4 years after the committee began its work, the standard ISO45001 dedicated to occupational health and safety is expected to be released in the coming months (March 2018).
This standard is intended for any organization looking to improve employee protection internally. It will follow the structure of the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards and be based on the principle of continuous improvement. It will place significant emphasis on employee consultation; at the very least, it will encourage companies to involve employees or their representatives in the development and improvement of the management system.
The latest version has introduced concepts that are already established in France but remain important, such as the right to withdraw from dangerous situations, protection for workers against potential retaliation when reporting incidents, and the provision of personal protective equipment at no cost. It is worth remembering that the prevention of occupational risks is a major global issue; every 15 seconds, a worker dies from a work-related accident or illness. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that the cost of work-related accidents and illnesses accounts for approximately 4% of global GDP, or nearly 2.5 trillion euros.
ISO45001 will replace the OHSAS 18001 standard for occupational health and safety, with a 3-year transition period to allow certified sites to migrate from OHSAS 18001 to ISO 45001.
Summary of the final stages of the ISO 45001 publication process
In March 2017, the first vote on the draft ISO 45001 standard received more than 25% negative votes. Since then, the ISO working group has revised its draft.
The revised standard was submitted for a new vote this summer: 57 ISO member countries voted in favor of publishing the ISO 45001 standard, 8 countries abstained, and 7 voted against it (Argentina, Austria, France, Germany, India, Spain, and Turkey). France, in particular, believes that the document remains too complex to implement, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Nevertheless, the publication process continues...
The ISO project committee dedicated to developing this standard has made several modifications to address the numerous comments received (nearly 1,600). The committee's final meeting in Malaysia (September 18–23) allowed for all these observations and questions to be addressed. It also confirmed the publication schedule.
From now on, nothing seems able to stop theISO 45001The FDIS (Final Draft International Standard) version will be approved in the coming weeks ahead of the final version's publication next spring.