American National Standards management issues

Safe Automation and ANSI/ISA 84.01-1996 served as significant technical references for the first international standard, IEC 61511, issued by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). In the United States, IEC 61511 was accepted by ISA as ISA 84.00.01-2004, replacing the 1996 standard. In 2004, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recognized IEC 61511 as a consensus standard for the process industry. IEC 61511 covers the complete process safety management life cycle. With its adoption, this standard serves as the primary driving force behind the work processes followed to achieve and maintain safe operation using safety instrumented systems. 

On July 25, 2005, the American National Standards Institute approved the Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Standard, designated as ANSUAIHA Z10-2005. Thus, for the first time in the United States, a national consensus standard was issued for safety and health management systems applicable to organizations of all sizes and types. 

Publications on contractor safety issued by three organizations are listed as resources in ZlO s Appendix K, Bibliography and Reference. Two standards issued by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) are referenced in appendix K. One pertains to multiemployer projects the other covers basic safety management elements in construction activities. 

In particular, the recently issued American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS) Standard, ANSI ZIO-2005, provides a new national benchmark for what constitutes an effective OHSMS and is the work product of a broad cross-section of stakeholders. 

What causes the most confusion concerning the recognition of a near miss incident are definitions that describe an incident as some event that may or may not have caused injury. That could be anything. The American National Standards Institute, Inc. (ANSI), Standard ANSI/AIHA ZIO-2005, Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, is one of the many definitions that cause this confusion and applying its definition of a near miss will confuse the issue more. The institute defines a near miss as an incident ... 

Use of an accepted safety management system can provide the structure for an overall assessment. As example, the American Nationals Standards Institute s ZlO-2012, Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, a voluntary standard states The organization shall establish a process to set documented objectives, quantified where practicable, based on issues that offer the greatest opportunity for Occupational Health and Safety Management System improvement and risk reduction. ... 

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