by Shane Henson — August 9, 2013—Following the tragic deaths of thousands of garment factory workers around the world in the past year, including more than 1,100 people in a factory collapse in Bangladesh, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) announced earlier this month that it will develop a new standard for global occupational health and safety (OH&S) with the goal of providing governmental agencies, industry, and other affected stakeholders with effective, usable guidance for improving worker safety in countries around the world.
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) have praised ISO for their initiative in launching such a standard.
“This proposed occupational health and safety standard represents one of the most significant consensus standards activities in the last 50 years,” said S. Joe Bhatia, president and CEO of ANSI. “It has the potential to significantly and positively impact occupational health and safety management on a global level.”
To support this effort, ANSI and ASSE are seeking participants for a U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for ISO PC 283. All U.S. experts and interested stakeholders in OH&S management are strongly encouraged to get involved and help influence the development of this important standard, the organizations say.
