MIRI: Local and foreign organisations that operate in the country should be prepared for the implementation of the ISO 45001, which is the world’s first international standard for occupational safety and health (OSH) management.
The ISO 45001 is expected to replace the widely-used British Standard Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS 18001), which have been adopted by 800 establishments and organisations since 1999.
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the ISO 45001 formulation was in the final stage and expected to be introduced this year.
“Similar to OHSAS 18001, the ISO 45001 is aimed at aligning the range of national health and safety management standards into one to reduce confusion and market fragmentation.
“The standard is being developed by a committee of occupational safety and health experts and will follow other generic management system approaches, such as ISO 14001 and ISO 9001.
“It will take into account other international standards in this area, such as OHSAS 18001, the International Labour Organisation’s OSH Guidelines, national standards and the International Labour Organisation’s international labour standards and conventions,” said Lee in his speech during the opening ceremony of the ISO 45001 seminar here today.
Themed “OSH Management System: Moving Ahead with ISO 45001”, the one-day seminar was jointly organised by NIOSH Certification Sdn Bhd (NCSB) and TM Tec Academy (M) Sdn Bhd.
Lee said the ISO 45001, which was proposed in March 2013, had undergone various stages in five meetings in London, Casablanca, Trinidad, Geneva and Mississauga. Its draft was presented and deliberated among stakeholders at the sixth meeting in Melaka in September last year.
He said organisations in Malaysian were adopting the OHSAS 18001 and Malaysian Standard (MS 1722) for their occupational safety and health management system.
“OSH is a global issue. The ISO records show that more than 7,600 people died of accidents at workplace or due to work-related illnesses daily. In total, almost 2.8 million people died of occupational accident and illness annually,” he said.
Lee said the implementation of OSH management system would bring a lot of benefits not only to the organisations but also to the workers and the local community.
“It will also protect the environment in our pursuit to develop the country,” he said.
With the management system in place, he said the organisations involved could monitor, assess and improve the OSH management aspect through a more systematic and efficient approach.
Based on the statistics issued by Standards Malaysia, he said 1,137 organisations had acquired the MS 1722 and OHSAS 18001 certifications for OSH management system.
He said NCSB, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NIOSH, also provides auditing and certification services for OSH Management Systems (MS 1722 and OHSAS 18001) and for Environmental Management System (ISO 14001), Quality Management System (ISO 9001), Food Safety Management System (ISO 22000) and Malaysian Sustainability Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification.