Publication of ISO 45001, the new international standard for occupational health and safety, is to be delayed after participating members of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) disapproved a draft international standard (DIS) earlier this year.
Members were balloted between 12 February and 12 May on whether to approve the draft, with 71% voting in favour, 28% against and 1% abstained. However, in order for the draft to pass 66% of members had to be in favour and less than 25% against, meaning the current draft couldn’t be approved.
Although the draft (DIS) was not passed, consultation had taken place during the ballot, which produced more than 3,000 comments. The scale of this feedback would in itself be enough to delay publication of the standard whilst members of the ISO 45001 work group consider the responses.
Richard Jones, IOSH head of policy and public affairs, said to IOSH Magazine: “While we cannot go into detail, there are a variety of reasons why participating members have voted against this, and these will need to be resolved at a meeting next month. Once concerns about the standard have been addressed, a revised version (DIS2) will be produced for further consultation and ballot.”
Currently the industry is now expecting the ISO 45001 standard to be published in 2017.
Here at IQMS we are following the story closely and will bring you any further news as soon as it is released but in the meantime don’t forget OHSAS 18001 is still the current standard. Our IRCA registered OHSAS 18001:2007 courses are still available to book, click here for further information.
Tags: ISO 45001:2016
