Safety Standards – ISO 45001

What Are Safety Standards

Safety standards are a system of measures that can improve the safety of the operations of a business. Following these measures helps to ensure safe production of products and services. A company may be awarded “ISO” certification if they can prove the implementation of the measures within the safety standard. Evidence of accreditation can be displayed publicly in the form of the ISO 45001 accreditation logo or stamp. Displaying the log indicates that the bearer has passed a stringent (and expensive) process to prove they’ve implemented very high safety standards. Obtaining “ISO” certification is a boost to the profile of a business to its customers, workers and regulators.

What Is “ISO”

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent, non-government organisation. The members of ISO are the standards organisations of the 164 member countries. It is the world’s largest developer of voluntary international standards and facilitates world trade by providing common standards between nations. Over twenty thousand standards have been set covering everything from manufactured products and technology to food safety, agriculture and healthcare. The first real International ISO world standard for health and safety is ISO 45001 and is now available from Standards Australia.

The New International Safety Standard ISO 45001.

The purpose of the safety standard is to offer certification. The certification then demonstrates that an organisation has implemented a stringent system to eliminate risks to health and safety. ISO 45001 is an ISO standard for management systems of occupational health and safety. It was published in March 2018. The goal of ISO 45001 is the reduction of occupational injuries and diseases. ISO 45001 is set to replace many international standards over the next three years.

Which Countries Will Use ISO 45001

ISO 45001 has been adopted as a national standard by;

Why Would I Care?

ISO 45001:2018 specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system. It gives guidance for its use, to enable organisations to provide safe and healthy workplaces. ISO 45001:2018 applies to any organisation regardless of its size, type or activities that wish to;

• Establish, implement and maintain an OH&S management system.
• Improve occupational health and safety
• Eliminate hazards and minimise OH&S risks

It helps an organisation to achieve the intended outcomes of its OH&S management system. Consistent with the organisation’s OH&S policy, the intended outcomes of an OH&S management system include:

1. 1. continual improvement of OH&S performance;
   2. fulfilment of legal and other requirements;
   3. achievement of OH&S objectives.

It can be used in whole or in part to improve occupational health and safety management systematically. Click here to find out more about the ISO safety standard.