Daily Times

Over 7500 people die each day owing to workplace injuries and diseases. Nearly 3 million global deaths are caused because of workplace injuries and diseases each year.

In Pakistan, the rate of work-related accidents has also been increasing at an alarming rate, which calls for a unified effort from the business community and workplace regulatory agencies operating in the country.

To deal with this pressing issue, International Standards Organisation (ISO) has recently launched the ISO 45001. ISO45001 is a newly-developed ISO standard for management systems of occupational health and safety (OHS). It provides a predefined framework for companies in Pakistan to help them improve their workplace safety efforts, reduce working risks and create a safer working environment for employees and workers.

“Being offered to local organisations and industrial units in Pakistan, the ISO 45001 is based on management system approaches similar to ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 standards and it also takes into account such International Standards as OHSAS 18001, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO)-OHS Guidelines, the ILO’s international labour conventions and the rest of the standards followed nationally and internationally,” said Tariq Nisar, an internationally certified Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) expert.

According to Tariq Nisar, the occupational injuries and diseases have a significant impact both on employers and the national economy. He said that occupational injuries and workplace diseases cause numerous losses in the forms of employee absenteeism, pre-mature retirements and escalating insurance premiums.

“Companies in Pakistan must adopt holistic HSE approaches that encompass employee trainings, regular assessments, inspections and many other project management programmes that fall under the health and safety umbrella, ”

Published in Daily Times, July 9^th 2018.