The International Organization for Standardization recently published ISO 45001:2018 to provide a framework to improve employee safety and identify workplace safety risks, as well as solutions and metrics for measuring the success of safety initiatives worldwide. The standard replaces OHSAS 18001 with a more holistic approach to an organization’s occupational health and safety, rather than focusing on managing specific hazards and other internal issues.
With the goal of providing a safe and healthy workplace for all employees and visitors, and reducing the nearly 2.8 million workplace fatalities around the globe, ISO 45001:2018 covers all the physical and cognitive factors that might result in illness, injury or death. Organizations already certified to OHSAS 18001 will have three years to comply with the new ISO 45001 standard, although certification of conformity to ISO 45001 is not required.
More than 70 countries were directly involved in the four-year creation of the new standard. For more information, visit iso.org/iso-45001-occupational-health-and-safety.html.
