ISO 45001, which sets requirements for occupational health and safety management systems, was inspired by OHSAS 18001, and is designed to help companies and organizations worldwide protect the health and safety of the people who work for them.

In late October, technical committee representatives working on the standard, including experts and senior figures from both ISO and the International Labour Organization (ILO), met in Geneva to work through comments and issues raised during the Committee Draft (CD) consultation stage of its development.

Now that these have been resolved and the text improved, the standard can move to Draft International Standard (DIS) stage, the public consultation stage before publication.

Kevin McKinley, ISO Acting Secretary-General, said , “There has been significant interest in ISO 45001 to build on existing ILO and national mechanisms to further enhance worker protection.”

ILO's Deputy Director-General for Policy, Sandra Polaski, said: “Many countries have formally ratified and accepted the internationally recognized occupational safety and health principles in ILO's International Labour Standards and management system guidelines adopted by the ILO's 185 member countries represented by government, and business and labour organizations.”

ISO 45001 is due to be published in October 2016.