Safety and Health Program Voluntary Standards

A number of standards, guidelines, and recommended practices exist to help you as you set up your program. Some of these are considered official industry standards that can be used to register your program following audits conducted by third-party certification bodies. Others are strictly voluntary guidance intended to help you consider best practice approaches.

You may choose to follow one or several of these. Each has something to offer and you will find they contain many common themes and recommendations. The following standards and guidance documents all focus on the elements of an effective safety and health program:

• OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program's "Star" criteria - PDF (2008). See Chapter III. Free download.
• International Labour Organization's Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management - PDF (2001). Free download.
• OHSAS 18001 (2007). An international standard published by the British Standards Institute. Copies of the standard are available for purchase through the British Standards Institute.
• ANSI/AIHA Z-10 (2012). An American national standard published by the American National Standards Institute and the American Industrial Hygiene Association. Copies of the standard can be purchased through the ANSI webstore.
• National Safety Council's Journey to Safety Excellence (JSE). Requires registration to access some of the tools and guidance materials.

In addition, a new international standard is expected to be published in 2017 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Information about that standard, designated as ISO 45001, will be provided once the standard is finalized. For more information about ISO 45001, visit the ISO 45001 home page.

• CPWR's Safety Culture and Climate webpage contains Worksheets and a Rating Tool to Help You Strengthen Jobsite Safety Climate at your workplace (http://www.cpwr.com/safety-culture).
• Your Construction Safety & Health Program: Safe Students, Safe Workers - A guide and set of program self-assessment tools to help you build safety and health management systems and education into your Career and Technical Education (CTE) Training Programs. Guide includes Action Steps and resource links for administrators, instructors, and industrial advisory committee members.