ISO 45001 – Current Status

Summary of the changes to be expected as of October 02, 201:

• The new Standard will be called ISO 45001 - OH&S (Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Requirements)
• One important objective of the Standard consists in making sure that it also is usable within smaller organizations.
• The Annex SL (Supplement) has been incorporated completely.
• The contents of ISO 45001 will be approached to those of ISO 14001:2015 a lot. However, ISO 45001 won’t be a copy of ISO 14001:2015.
• For facilitating use of ISO 45001, there will be a comprehensive Annex (Annex A) (13 pages).
• The aspect of health will be emphasized even more in terms of the policy, the objectives and targets, implementation within the system, etc.
• In case of accidents, near-misses and unsafe actions, the systematic analyses of causes will be highly emphasized, persons concerned / employees being involved.
• The CIP (Continual Improvement Process), including legal aspects and the analysis of causes, will be intensified.
• The legal aspects (legal requirements and other requirements) will be subjected to systematic deliberations throughout the management system even more from strategy via planning to objectives and targets, etc.There won’t be any prescribed accident or safety indicators. There will “only” be the obligation of continual improvement and involvement of the employees in the achievement of the objectives and targets.
• Non-managerial employees will be involved in the whole OH&S process even more.
• The fact that “outsourced” processes should be influenced by the organization in order to enhance OH&S will be emphasized even more.In order to enhance OH&S, contractors will have to be influenced and steered.
• Coordination will be necessary if several workers of different companies are working at one building site (in Austrian law, this is, for example, regulated in § 8 of the AschG (“ArbeitnehmerInnenschutzgesetz” - Labour Protection Act) as well as in the BauKG (“Bauarbeitenkoordinationsgesetz” - Act regulating the Coordination of Construction Work), which additionally refers to the building trade.
• Emergency preparedness and response, including first aid, have been intensified as compared to OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series). Binding exercises have been defined as a requirement. The lessons learned from the exercises are part of the CIP.
• OH&S performance will be highly emphasized in connection with the achievement of the organizational goals and legal compliance.