Machine safety standards: ANSI Z10 versus new ISO 45001 in late 2016

ANSI Z10-2005 is a machine safety concern and an opportunity, as recently discussed. I barely finished that blog post when I was informed about a brand new ISO Project Committee (PC) 283 tasked to take Z10 to the international stage. The new ISO 45001 is planned for approval in late 2016, but what would happen to the ANSI Z10-2012 safety standard?

By JB Titus July 14, 2014

The standard ANSI Z10-2005 is a machine safety concern and an opportunity. I barely finished a blog post on that topic when I was informed about a brand new ISO Project Committee (PC) 283 tasked to take Z10 to the international stage. The new ISO 45001 is planned for approval in late 2016, but then what would happen to Z10?1

First, you’re probably wondering why this new standard has taken off so rapidly on the international front. It seems that the garment factory issues in Bangladesh recently illuminated a global need for improved worker health and safety. The result is that ISO (International Organization for Standardization), ANSI (American National Standards Institute), and ASSE (American Society of Safety Engineers) have combined efforts to form ISO PC 283 to create ISO 45001. This promises to be one of the most important development activities for a consensus standard covering the past 50 years.

I believe that the U.S. is taking a strong role in the development of this global level Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) management systems consensus standard because of our existing leadership position and because Z10 has delivered significant results since first approved by ANSI in 2005. Z10 has a proven record as a management tool to reduce the risk of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.

In my opinion, there is no other global standard like Z10. 

ISO 45001 will draw from Z10 and…

Committee ISO PC 283 preliminary work already indicates that likely ISO 45001 references in Annex A will include:

• ANSI Z10: Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems

• ANSI/ASSE Z590.3 – 2011: Prevention through Design Guidelines for Addressing Occupational Hazards and Risks in Design and Redesign Process

• OHSAS 18001: Occupational Health & Safety Management System

As such, it appears that ANSI Z10-2012 will continue to be a key U.S. based consensus standard for OH&S management systems after ISO 45001 is likely approved in late 2016.

Any questions about Z10 implementation in relation to the future ISO 45001? Have any machine safety questions for future blog posts? Add your comments or thoughts to the discussion by submitting your ideas, experiences, and challenges in the comments section below.

Related articles:

ANSI Z10-2012

ISO 45001

Machine Safety Culture: Compliance versus cooperation driven

Machine Safety: Is your safety culture a top-down approach?

Contact: www.jbtitus.com for “Solutions for Machine Safety.”