Safety and Health Practitioner (SHP) magazine has included a feature on the anticipated ISO 45001.
Due to be published in 2016, the ISO will replace the current UK standard, OHSAS 18001, for occupational health and safety.
Richard Green, head of technical services at IRCA, a professional body of management system auditors, gave an interview to SHP, in which he discusses the role of the ISO, to "enable an organisation to proactively improve its OH&S performance in preventing injury and ill-health."
In the interview, a key question asked was "what will the new standard mean for organisations?"
The response was that "organisations operating quality, environmental and occupational health and safety (OH&S) systems will have a unique opportunity to align and integrate these three, if they wish."
One aspect of the new system was the commitment that would be vital from top management in order to be successful.
"The standard is clear in terms of what top management needs to do to evidence its commitment to the occupational health and safety management system," said Mr Green.
Finally, Mr Green predicted that the new system would almost certainly require new evidence for auditors and this will affect the way audits are planned, conducted and reported. IRCA have mandated that their OH&S auditors will undergo a one and a half day training course to reflect the transition from OHSAS 18001 to ISO 45001.
The interview closes with advice from Mr Green that companies should not implement significant changes in anticipation for the switch just yet, but to wait instead for the final published product.
