The TUC has published a guide to a new health and safety standard published last week to try to ensure that it does not turn into yet another piece of “pointless paperwork”.
This is because ISO 45001 - an international standard for occupational health and safety management systems - does not have any legal status. Companies who decide they need the standard will, however, get certification that confirms that their health and safety management systems have passed set requirements.
The TUC says that the standard can be seen as a series of minimum requirements which an employer’s management system must comply with to achieve certification. These management standards are designed to be generic, applicable to organisations of all sizes and industry sectors. Whilst the standards provide a framework for good management practice, specifying things that need to be included, they do not say how they must be done. That means there is a lot of freedom in meeting the requirements of the standard.
Although employers in the UK already have to comply with health and safety law, unions have criticised current guidance from the Health and Safety Executive for not encouraging employers to ensure they have a system of continual improvement in place.
This is one of the advantages of ISO 45001 as it places much greater emphasis on the need for employers to continually improve their health and safety systems. It also has a lot to say on the consultation and participation of workers, much of which is positive, according to the TUC, and could be an important way to ensure worker involvement in countries where this does not happen.
There is, however, no mention of unions. Nor is there any requirement for joint health and safety committees although employers must support establishing one. The TUC is also concerned that the standard does not require employers to issue Personal Protective Equipment free of charge, nor to ensure that training is free.
The TUC is therefore concerned to ensure that employers who apply for and achieve ISO 45001 do so in a way that raises standards and fully involves workers. Having a health and safety system is clearly important but what makes a workplace safer, as the TUC points out, is ensuring that hazards are removed, risks are controlled and meaningful worker involvement is ensured.
David Robinson of Thompsons Solicitors commented: “Health and safety is not static, and instead requires ongoing dynamic assessments of risk: what is safe today may not be safe tomorrow.
Any standard designed to improve employers’ attitudes to health and safety should be welcomed, but I echo the concerns of the TUC in respect of ensuring this standard is not simply put away on a shelf. What is needed is the involvement of union safety representatives who are on the ground doing the job.
Collaboration is far better than complacency, and a prevalent reminder of this are the case studies that resonate as part of this year’s Workers’ Memorial Day.”
Visit the TUC website to read the guidance in full.