The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that every year, around 2.93 million workers around the world die from work-related accidents. According to ILO, every year, worldwide, there are around 395 million occupational non-fatal work injury and around 2.41 million are exposed to excessive heat. While in the past decades, great efforts were made to improve the health and safety of workers, there is still a lot that must be done. To tackle the issues related to the health and safety of workers, ISO has developed ISO 45001, an international standard that defines the requirements for an occupational health and safety management system (OH&S MS).What is ISO 45001?
Based on the British standard OHSAS 18001 and other international guidelines on occupational health and safety, ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety management systems — Requirements with guidance for use specifies the requirements for an OH&S MS. By establishing an effective OH&S MS based on this standard, organizations provide safer and healthier work environments.
ISO 45001 is applicable to organizations of all sizes and industries that seek to prevent work-related injuries, diseases, and deaths and promotes the establishment of safe working environments and the continual improvement of occupational health and safety performance.
ISO 45001 shares the High-Level Structure (HLS) similar to other ISO management system standards like ISO 9001 for quality management and ISO 14001 for environmental management which allows organizations to easily integrate two or more management systems. Since its publication in 2018, ISO 45001 replaced the British standard OHSAS 18001.
