U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG)

To The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

For ISO/ANSI/ASSE PC 283

Health and Safety Management Systems

American Society of Safety Engineers

TAG Administrator/Secretariat

1800 E. Oakton Street

Des Plaines, IL 60018

Phone: (847) 699-2929

Fax: (847) 296-9221

U.S. TAG to ISO PC283 Meeting Minutes

Prepared 10/17/2013

ISO PC-283 TAG MEETING MINUTES

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013 – VIA CONFERENCE CALL

Attendance: Please see the attached/embedded file for a list of people and organizations on the September 18th, 2013 conference call:

1. Call to Order and TAG Leadership Confirmation

ASSE as the U.S. TAG secretariat welcomed the attendees to the conference call and noted the following:

ASSE appointed Vic Toy as U.S. TAG Chair to PC283 and Kathy Seabrook as Vice-Chair to U.S. TAG to PC283. These appointments were then confirmed via vote by the United States TAG. (Note: The vote tally is attached at the end of the Minutes as an embedded file.

U.S. TAG Chair Vic Toy the called the formal portion of the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. and noted that a quorum was present. In the expectation of making rapid progress, U.S. TAG Chair Vic Toy suggested that housekeeping issues be handled first.

The secretariat also noted that the first meeting of the full PC283 ISO Committee will take place in London during the week of October 21st. It is important that the basic United States positions be finalized for presentation during the meeting. The delegation to London will be Vic Toy, Kathy Seabrook, Thea Dunmire, and Todd Hohn.

2. Introductions

It was noted that both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) are working together to engage U.S. stakeholders in this effort. This new ISO effort - Project Committee (PC) 283 has the potential to positively impact occupational health and safety management on a global level. We've seen time and again that investment in OH&S management also improves overall organizational performance and boosts the bottom line.

A subgroup will be put together to review the TAG membership and the interest categories. The TAG did agree to cap the voting membership at 75 voting members and also include up to 25 observers. The roster was distributed to the TAG membership and any changes or additions should be submitted to the attention of the secretariat.

3. Accredited Procedures and Voting

U.S. TAG Chair Vic Toy noted the TAG is currently using the model accredited procedures from ANSI. Kathy Seabrook will chair this subgroup and all TAG members are asked to review the procedures and submit any suggestions to the attention of Kathy Seabrook. Volunteers for the procedures subgroup are also included at the end of these meetings as an embedded file.

There have been comments addressing formal voting procedures, and this is covered as part of the accredited procedures. The TAG membership is encouraged to review the subgroup procedures and then let the secretariat know if there are any questions or concerns.

4. Communication Approach(es)

The secretariat is planning to create a secured website and then notify the TAG membership of files and materials. ASSE is reviewing possible new software applications for standards, but there have been no decisions made as of this point.

5. Proposed Scope

A number of members asked for the proposed scope of the draft standard. The scope statement put forward by BSI via ISO is:

This International Standard specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system, to enable an organization to control its OH&S risks and improve its OH&S performance. It does not state specific OH&S performance criteria, nor does it give detailed specifications for the design of a management system.

This International Standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to:

a) establish an OH&S management system to eliminate or minimize risks to personnel and other interested parties who could be exposed to OH&S hazards associated with its activities;

b) implement, maintain and continually improve an OH&S management system;

c) assure itself of its conformity with its stated OH&S policy;

d) demonstrate conformity with this International Standard.

All the requirements in this International Standard are intended to be incorporated into any OH&S management system. The extent of the application will depend on such factors as the OH&S policy of the organization, the nature of its activities and the risks and complexity of its operations.

This International Standard is intended to address occupational health and safety management systems, and is not intended to address other health and safety areas such as employee wellbeing/wellness programmes, product safety, property damage or environmental impacts.

6. N21 Design Specification

Thea Dunmire was confirmed as the subgroup chair for the N21 Design Specification. She then gave an extensive presentation addressing the draft design specification. The presentation (9/20) is embedded below along with the draft specification. A number of members volunteered to assist with compiling the TAG comments for the draft design specification and this statement will be presented to the TAG for additional review and approval.

The subgroup consists of:

Thea Dunmire, Subgroup Chair

Kelly Bernish

James Bytnar

Franco Daino

Ed Foulke

Robert Friedman

Josh Gibson

Robert Hicke

Randell Hirschmann

Todd Hohn

Kevin Lehner

Robert Lynch

Nick Miedema

Kathy Seabrook

Michael Seymour

Tom Slavin

Dan Snyder

Vic Toy

Lee-Na Tsai

7. N23 Proof of Concept (PoC) Draft

Extensive discussion and debate took place addressing the draft document provided by the British Standards Institute (BSI) and the very short timeframes for comments.

Vic Toy gave an extensive presentation on the PoC Draft (slides embedded below), and there were extensive questions addressing the procedure/process for the comments to the draft document.

It was noted that the second conference call on the 23rd would be to review the POC Draft. It was noted the TAG has had the draft for a period of time and have hopefully had an opportunity to look at it. The TAG members were asked to provide any final comments to the secretariat by Friday (9/20). This will allow the secretariat to compile the comments for the follow-up conference call.

Secretariat staff made the following comments:

  • We suggest you do not worry about word-smithing at this point. We will get additional opportunities to review the document and offer specific comments. For the purposes of this exercise, stick to the high level issues. Is there an issue/concept/application that you think is critical to the United States position for the meeting in London.
  • Z10 is the baseline document for the United States since it is an approved American National Standard.
  • If you make a comment – if at all possible it is important to include a rationale and hopefully a way to address it.
  • If you make a comment – please fill out the comment matrix completely.
  • You will have an opportunity to review again, with more extensive lead times. That is why it would be prudent to stick to the high-level issues and not get into word-smithing at this point since literally the entire world is looking at this document.

8. Conclusion and Next Meeting

U.S. TAG Chair Vic Toy noted there would be an additional conference call on 9/23 and then on 10/9 to finalize the United States position prior to the PC283 Meeting in London.

9. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:15 a.m.

Timothy R. Fisher

PC283 U.S. TAG Secretariat Staff

American Society of Safety Engineers, Secretariat – Victor Toy, Chairman