ISO 45001 is the much-anticipated, first ISO-based international occupational health and safety (OH&S) standard. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has tried twice and failed in the past to create an international OH&S management system standard. Although there are a lot of celebrations and accolades with the launch of this new standard, the road to its release as an international standard wasn’t as smooth as one might have imagined.

Up till now, the go-to standard for OH&S has been British Standards Institution’s (BSI) OHSAS 18001. Although it’s closely aligned to ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 isn’t an ISO standard but a consensus standard that is used worldwide by organizations that want an OH&S management system.

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