ISO 45001 revision: where the draft stands, what may change and how to prepare your OH&S system

ISO 45001 revision status: where the draft stands

ISO/TC 283, the committee responsible for occupational health and safety management, approved the first formal review of ISO 45001 at the end of 2023. The project has since moved through a committee draft to a draft international standard, the point at which national standards bodies around the world comment and vote. The DIS was registered in April 2026, its twelve-week ballot opened in June, and voting closed on 9 September 2026. ISO's catalogue lists the draft as edition 2, 48 pages long, against 41 pages for the 2018 text.

The 2018 edition shows as stage 90.92, "International Standard to be revised". It remains current, and certification bodies keep auditing against it with its 2024 climate action amendment.

What happens before the revised edition is published

A closed ballot is not a finished standard. The committee now studies every comment and decides what to accept. ISO's stage codes show the two possible outcomes of the enquiry: the draft is approved for registration as a final draft (stage 40.99), or the committee decides a new DIS ballot is needed (stage 40.93). A second DIS would push publication back.

After approval comes stage 50, where the final text is either put to an eight-week FDIS ballot or sent for proofing, and then stage 60, publication. ISO's own expectation, shown on the draft's catalogue page, is that the new edition will replace the 2018 edition in the first half of 2027. ISO gives no month or day, so neither do we. Treat any exact publication date you see elsewhere as a guess until iso.org shows stage 60.60.

You can follow progress yourself: the catalogue entry for ISO/DIS 45001 updates each time the project changes stage, and ISO's Online Browsing Platform offers a preview of the draft.

Transition to the new ISO 45001: what is known and what is not

Nothing about the transition for ISO 45001 has been fixed. There is no transition period, no last date for new certificates to the 2018 edition and no expiry date for existing certificates. Those rules are set after publication by Global ACI, which replaced the IAF and ILAC as the global accreditation arrangement on 1 January 2026, and certification bodies then apply them to each client.

Two recent revisions show how Global ACI has handled this, without committing it for ISO 45001. For ISO 14001:2026, published in April 2026, and ISO 9001:2026, published in September 2026, Global ACI issued mandatory transition requirements within weeks of publication. Each set a three-year transition, a cut-off for first certificates to the old edition part-way through, and a choice of surveillance, recertification or a special audit to carry the move. Our guides ISO 14001:2026: what changes and how to transition and ISO 9001:2026: what changes and how to transition, set out those timetables.

Until Global ACI publishes requirements for ISO 45001, an accredited ISO 45001:2018 certificate remains valid for its normal cycle, with surveillance continuing as usual. The cycle itself is covered in ISO 45001 surveillance and recertification: the three-year cycle.

Likely changes: what can accurately be said today

ISO and ISO/TC 283 have not described the content of the revision. The committee's public notes say only that the aim is to keep the standard relevant to current and emerging health and safety challenges. Certification bodies and trainers have published their readings of the draft; they are opinions on a text that may still change, and we do not repeat them as facts.

What can be said is where the sister standards moved. ISO 9001:2026 and ISO 14001:2026 were both brought into line with ISO's latest common structure for management system standards, and both absorbed the 2024 climate action amendment into the main text. ISO 45001 shares that structure, so these are the areas to watch when the final text appears. They are signposts, not predictions of the requirements.

The page count gives one more hint: seven extra pages suggest added text or guidance, though not whether it sits in requirements or in the annex.

How to prepare for the ISO 45001 revision now

Preparation now is about readiness to act quickly, not about guessing wording. Four steps make sense for any certified organisation.

1. Close today's weak points

Whatever the new text adds, auditors will still test hazard identification, the legal register, worker consultation and participation, contractor control and incident investigation. Fix anything your last audit flagged, and anything your own ISO 45001 internal audit: planning, conduct and reporting keeps finding.

2. Map your system to its clauses

Keep a simple cross-reference from procedures and records to clause numbers. When the new edition appears, a gap review is then a matter of comparing clauses, not rereading every document.

3. Ask your certification body two questions

When will it be accredited to audit the new edition, and which audit in your cycle would it suggest for the move? The answer cannot be final yet, but it shows how the body plans.

4. Pencil in, do not commit

Hold time for a gap review, a management briefing and internal auditor refresher training after publication, and leave budget and dates open until Global ACI's requirements are known.

Certifying for the first time during the revision

An organisation starting now will be audited against ISO 45001:2018 with Amendment 1:2024, because that is the only edition a certification body can audit against until the new one is published and accreditation bodies extend their scope to it. A project of four to eight months that begins in late 2026 may finish close to publication. That is manageable: the harmonised clause structure means a well-built system needs targeted updates, not a restart, and the transition period that normally follows gives time to make them.

If your certification audit falls after publication, ask your certification body which edition it will audit against and when it expects to be accredited for the new one. Our ISO 45001 timeline: how long certification takes, stage by stage shows where the audit usually falls in the project.

ISO 45001 revision: questions buyers ask