is an international standard set by the International Organization of Standardization which focuses on Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S). The first working draft of ISO 45001 was shaped in October 2013 and the final draft was published on 12th March 2018.

ISO 45001 is based on and is set to replace the OHSAS 18001 standard. While OHSAS 18001 was procedure-based, ISO 45001 is process-based and it aims to promote health and safety at the workplace. ISO 45001 has already been adopted as a national standard by many countries including South Africa.

Need for ISO 45001 

2.7 million workers died due to workplace injuries or diseases in the year 2017, which was a significant rise from the 2.4 million in 2014.  In just three short years there was a rise of 20% fatalities. This shows that 7,500 people die every day because of the poor working environment.

Furthermore, there are over 374 million non-fatal injuries that are work-related each year. These are injuries such as overexertion, slips, trips, falls, equipment-contact, and exposure to harmful chemicals. These injuries not only result in a minimum of 4 days of absence from work which also harms the business productivity, but it also causes a lot of expense on insurance cost for each injured employee.

Therefore, workplace safety should be treated as a priority to minimize these fatalities and protect the staff and the business. was implemented in order to protect the staff and guests fro""