Early in 2018 something happened. For most of the global safety community the long wait was finally over. March 2018 saw the last bastion of resistance for a Global OHS standard crumble, ISO 45001 arrived!
Lewis takes us on journey through the history of OHS standards and the importance of having a set of global principals that have led us to the present day. Navigating around the new standard and highlights some of the key reason why as a nation we are lagging behind and what we can do to bridge the gap.
As we look at the statistics produced by the ILO (International Labour Organisation) in 2018 and the fact that over 2.7 million workers die each year through work related activities or disease and compare these against our performance in Europe and touches on the “Safety Ashes” as a comparison.
Taking an alternative look at some of the more recent trends in safety culture, Lewis points out some of the issues he has with Sidney Dekker’s Safety Differently. “It’s always fascinated me how some people just automatically buy into an idea that say Dekker, Reason and Hopkins come up with, yet when questioned as to how this is either implementable or sustainable, they all seem to revert back to the “Generative” concepts of safety which are a Trust and Accountability principal rather than answer then question itself.”
Lewis adds “For the record, I honestly believe that Dekker, Reason and Hopkins have done so much for safety over the last thirty or so years, we just need to go back to basics right now in my opinion, moving away from the ‘giving people a cuddle’ concept every time someone break the rules”.
Lewis highlights some of the key differences between the AS/NZ 4801 (the regional standard) vs ISO 45001 (the new Global benchmark) and offers up his suggestions for achieving certification to 45001 and the key to having a certification partner rather than a certifier.
“The key to certification is embracing the gaps that are identified, rather than seeing them as tarnished black marks on an organisational certification record, these should be seen as opportunities that can lead to financial reward for a business if the desire and leadership is there.” Lewis says. “What we need to do is move away from the environment that NASA displayed in the early 80’s that ultimately lead to the loss of Challenger.”