Standards Development

Safety Is So Much More Than OSHA Compliance

Organizations with true safety cultures go well beyond complying with OSHA regulations — holding their businesses to a high standard so they can eliminate risks that cause worker injuries, illnesses and fatalities, and reduce the claims costs and reputation damage spurred by workplace incidents. When you adopt voluntary safety standards, you can evolve your safety program from a compliance-based cost center into an initiative that improves your organization's performance and overall sustainability.

Purchase safety standards

What Are Voluntary Consensus Safety Standards

While certain regulatory entities like OSHA establish safety standards that are mandated by law, voluntary consensus safety standards are those that organizations choose to implement because of their merit, and their incorporation of the latest industry developments and recognized best practices.

The standards stem from collaboration among ASSP, our members and other safety organizations with diverse technical expertise. Together, we organize or serve on formal standards committees to achieve consensus on best practices for addressing certain workplace hazards.

Safety-minded organizations often voluntarily adopt these standards because:

• They establish or reflect industry best practices
• They reference the latest state-of-the-art practices and technology
• They can address gaps when no regulatory standards exist for certain hazards
• They are formally recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and/or the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), giving the standards additional validity and credibility

Why ASSP Develops and Supports Safety Standards

As an advocate for workplace safety and OSH professionals, ASSP understands the importance of leading the discussion and evolution of voluntary safety standards. We are the secretariat for multiple standards committees. This means we organize the committees and ensure that the standards are developed, revised and published in a timely manner, and in accordance with ANSI procedures.

ASSP is secretariat for the following standards committees:

• Confined Spaces, Z117
• Construction and Demolition Operations, A10
• Fall Protection and Fall Restraint, Z359
• Fleet/Motor Vehicles, Z15
• Hydrogen Sulfide Training, Z390
• Leading/Lagging Indicators, Z16
• Lockout, Tagout and Alternative Methods, Z244
• OSH Management, Z10, ISO 45001
• OSH Training, Z490
• Prevention Through Design, Z590.3
• Walking/Working Surfaces, A1264

ASSP is also the administrator of the U.S. technical advisory groups for two international standards:

• ISO 45001, Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems
• ISO 31000, Risk Management

Help ASSP Develop Safety Standards

Representatives on ASSP standards committees attend meetings for their assigned standard; review written proposals to evolve that standard; and vote on that standard’s final approval. They also report back to our Standards Development Committee — keeping those volunteer leaders apprised of significant developments. As a standards committee representative, you can develop yourself professionally by sharing your knowledge in various ways:

• Write about your assigned standard for ASSP publications
• Deliver a presentation about your standard at the annual professional development conference
• Network with other industry experts who serve on your committee
• Consult with other safety professionals who have questions about the standards