The new ISO 45001:2018 Standard was officially published on March 12th, marking a turn in how the industry will handle the safety of its employees. The Chair of the committee that developed the new Standard, David Smith, hopes that “ISO 45001 will lead to a major transformation in workplace practices and reduce the tragic toll of work-related accidents and illnesses across the globe.”
Aimed at all organisations, no matter their size or sector, ISO 45001 sets out the industry standard expectations for Health & Safety within the workplace. The processes and systems that businesses certified to the ISO 45001 Standard implement will help to reduce workplace accidents, protecting employees from harm and businesses from litigation.
Another benefit of ISO 45001 is that it follows the familiar Annex SL structure used by other popular ISO standards such as ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015. This means that it is simple for businesses who already have a system that follows this structure to implement the guidelines offered by ISO 45001.
ISO 45001 replaces the existing Occupational Health & Safety Standard OHSAS 18001 and so companies that have been certified to this are advised to upgrade their Management Systems to ISO 45001 when they can. The International Organization for Standardization has provided a three-year period in which to do so before OHSAS 18001 is retired from use.
To find out more about the ISO 45001 or how QMS can help you become certified, please contact 0333 344 3646 or email [email protected].