Abstract

The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards are used by more than 4000 organisations in over 90 countries to report on their economic, environmental and social impacts – including occupational health and safety (OHS) impacts. The GRI Standards are referenced in policy and regulation in more than 50 countries, and by nearly 40 stock exchanges worldwide. They are issued by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), GRI’s independent standard-setting body, and developed following a thorough Due Process Protocol, which ensures a transparent process and provides many opportunities for input from diverse stakeholders. GRI is reviewing its OHS reporting standard to align it with internationally-agreed best practice and recent developments in OHS management and reporting practice. The project addresses important topics such as the reporting of occupational illnesses, occupational health services, and worker health promotion, and will include a combination of leading and lagging indicators, as well as management approach disclosures. A multi-stakeholder expert Working Group is revising the content, and includes leading experts from the ILO, the Centre for Safety and Health Sustainability, IOSH, U.S. OSHA, as well as leading multinationals, among many others. This process will deliver a set of best practice metrics for organisations around the world to report on their OSH impacts in a standardised way. Ultimately, the transparency created by such a standard is intended to lead to positive change, thus contributing to sustainable development. The final standard is expected to be published during Q2 2018, the details of which will be unveiled at ICOH 2018.