ISO 45001 update

The ballot on the second Draft International Standard (DIS2) of 'ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety management systems — Requirements with guidance for use' closed on 13 July. Australia submitted a positive vote and the overall results of the ballot indicated that 57 votes of approval, 7 votes of disapproval and 8 abstentions had been submitted; consequently the DIS2 has been approved and can now move forward to the next stage.

Approximately 1600 comments were received, which will now be reviewed by ISO’s Project Committee 283 (ISO/PC283) at a meeting in Malaysia in September. Three Australian experts will be attending this committee meeting to receive and resolve the DIS2 comments.

"Following that review, the committee will know if it is able to avoid going through a further ballot (for the Final Draft International Standard, or FDIS) stage and move directly to publication of the standard (potentially by the end of 2017), or whether the FDIS stage will be necessary (which could delay publication until early 2018)," said Charles Corrie, Secretary to ISO/PC 283, the committee for ISO 45001.

"Under ISO current rules, if any 'technical' changes (eg, the addition or deletion of a requirement) are accepted by the committee, then an FDIS will be required.

"There is also a risk that the committee may not be able to complete the processing of all the comments at the meeting in September and would need a further meeting to do so. This could delay publication by a further 2 to 3 months (assuming that the FDIS is approved)."

The voluntary Australian Standard 'AS/NZS 4801:2001, Occupational health and safety management systems — Specification with guidance for use' has not changed and remains a current publication.

Once the ISO 45001 has been published, Australian stakeholders will be able to submit a proposal for Australia to officially adopt it as an Australian Standard.

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