12 March 2018 is the date announced by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for the publication of ISO 45001:2018 - the new international standard for occupational health and safety management systems.
ISO 45001 will replace OHSAS 18001, which has been widely adopted alongside a number of other national standards. Organisations certified to OHSAS 18001 will have three years to migrate to the new standard before OHSAS 18001 is withdrawn in March 2021.
“Safety has been at the core of LRQA for 258 years. With ISO developing this as a global standard, we anticipate a significant increase in the number of organisations that will include an OH&S management system in their portfolio. With our technical expertise and range of assessment, certification and training services, it is our goal to be the service provider of choice for ISO 45001 services worldwide,” said Paul Butcher, Managing Director, Management Systems and Inspection Services, LRQA.
ISO 45001 puts greater emphasis on top management involvement and worker participation to make workplaces safer and healthier. It has been designed to reduce confusion and fragmentation across global markets, by enabling the same criteria to be used by organisations worldwide. The high level structure is the same as the quality and environmental management systems standards, ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 – which will make it easier to integrate.
“We take a holistic approach to safety within our own organisation and we can see that ISO 45001 is going to help organisations of all sizes and sectors to embed a robust approach to occupational health and safety to reduce the risks to their people and make it a healthier place to work,” commented Steve Williams, Systems and Governance Manager – who was part of the committee that developed the new standard.
With all the major ISO standards being revised, LRQA is at the forefront of communicating the changes. We offer a range of ISO 45001 services to support organisations worldwide as they adopt the new standard.
