ISO/TC 283 - thank you for all of your work in 2024!
Dear colleagues,
As 2024 draws to a close, we wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the incredible work and achievements of ISO/TC 283 over the past year. Your dedication and contributions have been instrumental in our success, and we are grateful to each of you for your hard work and commitment.
2024 highlights
This year, ISO/TC 283 held an impressive 46 meetings, including two plenary sessions, various working and task group meetings, and several ad hoc discussions. A key milestone was our first hybrid meeting, hosted in October by our colleagues at OSN in San Salvador, El Salvador.
WG 4 successfully complete work on ISO 45004:2024 Occupational health and safety management — Guidelines on performance evaluation, which was published in March 2024.
WG 5 successfully complete work on ISO 45006:2023 Occupational health and safety management — Guidelines for organizations on preventing, controlling and managing infectious diseases, which was published just before the end of 2023 (and so didn’t make it into our wrap up of last year!).
Our Spanish Translation Task Force (STTF) has since finished the Spanish translations of both of these documents.
With two WGs finishing up this year, we had four new WGs start.
WG 6 has begun work on the revision of our flagship standard, ISO 45001:2018 Occupational health and safety management systems — Requirements with guidance for use. We are looking forward to continuing the discussions we’ve started next year.
WG 7 has made a great start taking the seed document created last year by TG 8, and developing it into the first Working Draft of ISO/PAS 45007 OH&S risks arising from climate change and climate action — Guidelines for organizations. We’ve already seen a high level of interest in this topic and look forward to publishing this PAS in 2025.
WG 8 has been working through comments received on the first Working Draft of ISO/AWI 45008 Guidelines for remote working, and has also concentrated its efforts on complex discussions on the scope of the document.
And finally for our WGs, WG 10 has received 258 comments on ISO/CD 45010 Menstruation, menstrual health and menopause in the workplace — Guidance and is looking forward to discussing them at the next meetings in January 2025.
Our Task Groups have also been busy. In particular, TG 4 has used the emerging trends report to provide important input to discussions WG 6 and TG 7 continues to raise awareness of SME needs within our committee and beyond, including by creating video resources. Meanwhile TG 2 has provided support on terminology and definitions to all our new task groups, making sure we maintain consistency across the TC 283 portfolio.
This year, we appointed two Member Experience and Engagement Representatives, who are now working on implementing an action plan to address the feedback received in the ISO/TC 283 Member Survey 2023.
Lastly, we had a number of people take up speaking opportunities both in-person and online this year, and use the opportunities to promote ISO/TC 283. To name a few, this included ICOH 2024 in Marrakesh, Morocco; the ISO Annual Meeting 2024; and various events for World Standards Day around the world. Thank you to everyone who contributes to raising awareness of TC 283 standards, whether publicly or within your organisations.
Plans for 2025
In an exciting development for our committee, this year we appointed Leanie Du Toit as Chair Elect, who most of you have now had a chance to meet in various WG meetings and at our October plenary meeting. Leanie is looking forward to continuing to learn from our current chair Martin Cottam, before taking over in May 2025.
There are also open positions within the committee. We are looking forward to appointing a new convenor for the DCCG, as well as two (or more!) new regional representatives for Oceania and Africa regions.
With the disbandment of TG 1 Communications, we appointed two Publicity Officers. We have recently had a workshop with a strategic communication specialist and look forward to a more focused and long-term strategy for ISO/TC 283 communications next year.
While we have faced some challenges in starting work in WG 9 this year, we are confident that – as discussed in our plenary meeting – by changing this to a Preliminary Work Item and spending more time preparing to start the work, we will set ISO 45009 Leadership and Governance - Top Management Guidance for ISO 45001:2018 for success.
Finally, we are anticipating an even better hybrid meeting of ISO/TC 283 and some of its WGs in September or October next year, so if you have been thinking about expressing interest in your National Standards Body hosting us and haven’t done so already, please do let us know!
Thank you for your energy, commitment, and collaboration this year. Our achievements are a testament to the collective efforts of this committee. We hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break and return refreshed for the opportunities and challenges of 2025.
Wishing you a restful end to 2024, and we look forward to seeing you next year—in person, virtually, or in correspondence.
Best wishes,
Martin Cottam, ISO/TC 283 chair
Leanie DuToit, ISO/TC 283 chair elect
Lachean Humphreys, ISO/TC 283 committee manager