OSHA has not been able to get anywhere with a standard outlining safety and health program requirements, and now a voluntary committee is taking up the cause.

The American National Standards Institute Z10 Committee will meet in Alexandria, Va., May 17-18 to consider the make-up of a voluntary safety and health “management systems” standard similar to ISO quality and environmental standards. The committee began its work earlier this year.

Here are some of the building blocks of a possible safety and health program standard:

• Management commitment and resources

• Employee participation

• Health and safety policy

• Goals and objectives

• Baseline evaluation and hazard/risk assessment

• Management system manual and procedures

• Training

• Hazard control system

• Preventive and corrective action system

• Communication

• Record management

• Auditing and self-inspection

• Incident investigation and root cause analysis

• Medical program and surveillance

• Processes for continual improvement and integration

These functions of a program were taken from the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s “Occupational Health and Safety Management System Performance Measurement,” developed in 1999. To comply with a voluntary ANSI health and safety standard, employers would have to document and verify that they have systems in place to address each of these key attributes.

ANSI standards-setting is often a contentious, drawn-out affair, and it could be years, if ever, before voluntary requirements emerge from the Z10 committee’s work.