New ISO 45001 standard being developed

Over 6300 people die each day from work-related accidents or diseases – that’s nearly 2.3 million every year.

The burden of occupational injuries and diseases is significant, both for employers and the wider economy, resulting in losses from early retirements, staff absence and rising insurance premiums.

To combat the problem, ISO is developing a new standard, ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety management systems – Requirements, that will help organizations reduce this burden by providing a framework to improve employee safety, reduce workplace risks and create better, safer working conditions, all over the world.

The standard is currently being developed by a committee of occupational health and safety experts and will follow other generic management system approaches such as ISO 14001 and ISO 9001. It will consider other International Standards in this area such as OHSAS 18001 and AS/NZS 4801.

For more details on the progress of this new standard go to http://www.iso.org/iso/iso45001