KANBrief 1/23
The CEN Sector Forum on Occupational Health and Safety has set up an information system. This will enable it to respond more effectively to standardization topics relevant to occupational safety and health.
The earlier a stakeholder engages with standardization activity, the greater its opportunity to have its own concerns, such as occupational safety and health, addressed in the document. KAN therefore uses lists from DIN and DKE to monitor closely what projects are being formally launched by the German, European and international standards organizations. These lists include all new projects and also revisions of existing documents.
Not only does KAN use this information for the German OSH stakeholders represented within it, it also informs the CEN Sector Forum on Occupational Health and Safety (CEN/SF OHS, see below) at regular intervals of new European and international projects in their very early stages. For this purpose, KAN prepares a list of projects impacting upon the safety and health of workers at work for the members of the sector forum. In addition, CEN/SF OHS has a major interest in receiving information on standardization projects which could impact upon the sphere of regulation within the remit of the social partners, for example those concerning human resources management. CEN/SF OHS is also informed of projects in the field of product safety, particularly where an associated CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) is planned, since the OSH stakeholders consider this document an unsuitable format for this purpose (refer to the article "KAN updates its position on fast-track standardization documents").
Equally, the members of CEN/SF OHS are able to alert their own national bodies – particularly, of course, the stakeholders in occupational safety and health – to the launch of projects that they may consider critical or of interest. Ideally, occupational safety and health experts in different European countries can thereby be recruited early to the work of developing these projects' content, influencing their course or even opposing them.
Examples of revisions of existing documents launched in recent months and lying within the sphere of interest of CEN/SF OHS are EN 17037, Daylight in buildings, EN ISO 15858, UV-C Devices – Safety information – Permissible human exposure, and EN 50110-2, Operation of electrical installations – Part 2: National annexes.
Completely new projects launched include a CEN/TR on AI risks – checklist for AI risk management, another concerning a quick start guide for deploying relevant nano health and safety risk management, and IEC/TS 60079-48, Explosive atmospheres – Part 48: Portable Electronic Equipment – Guide for the use of equipment without a certificate for use in Hazardous Areas.
The early information system is now undergoing a trial period in CEN/SF OHS. It is hoped that it will enable the voice of occupational safety and health to be heard more clearly at European level and possibly even at international level, and workplace safety and health to be enhanced.
Corrado Mattiuzzo
mattiuzzo@kan.de