ISO/PC 283/WG1, the Working Group responsible for developing the new ISO 45001 occupational health and safety standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), met in Vienna last week to go through the changes submitted to the DIS version of the proposed ISO 45001 standard. ISO 45001 will replace the existing OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management standard.
During this round of meetings, the Working Group completed the review of comments received on the back of meetings in Lithuania in November 2016, during which they agreed the texts for the second draft international standard (DIS2) stage for the majority of clauses 4 to 10.
Based on the progress and the latest information from the Working Group, the timeline for ISO 45001 publication currently remains in line with what LRQA previously published, and is as follows:
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February 2017 – Editing and preparation of the DIS2 (previously March 2017)
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March 2017 – The DIS2 is released for translation (previously April/May 2017)
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End May 2017 – DIS2 ballot is held (previously June/July 2017)
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End July 2017 – Results of the DIS2 vote and comments are known
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September 2017 – PC283 and WG1 meet to review the results of the DIS2 ballot
The next ISO/PC 283/WG1 meeting has been arranged to take place in Malacca, Malaysia from 18-23 September 2017, where the results of the DIS2 ballot and resulting comments will be reviewed to determine the next steps in the development process.
If DIS2 is approved and the final draft international standard (FDIS) stage is not required, publication could be as early as October/November 2017. However, if FDIS is required, then publication is likely to be March 2018.
Steve Williams, LRQA Systems and Governance Manager, an external liaison member of ISO/PC 283 who participates in the task group meetings, said, “I am happy to report that the hard work undertaken by all concerned during this meeting has resulted in a DIS2 document that will be sent to the ISO editorial group for review, before being translated into the languages necessary for the DIS2 to then be circulated to the National Standards Bodies for comments and voting.”
With all the major ISO standards being revised, LRQA is at the forefront of communicating the changes. We offer a range of assessment services as well public and in-house training courses, all aimed at helping to ensure that organisations worldwide have a smooth transition to the new standards.
Please note that as of January 2018, we have moved to the LRQA brand and retired the LRQA name.