Introduction 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 impacts. The GRI Standards are referenced in policy and regulation in more than 50 countries, and by nearly 40 stock exchanges worldwide.

GRI is currently reviewing its OSH reporting standard to align it with internationally-agreed best practice and recent developments in OSH management and reporting practice.

The project will address important topics such as the reporting of occupational illnesses, workers’ access to occupational health services, and workplace health promotion.

Methods The GRI Standards are issued by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), GRI’s independent standard-setting body. The work follows the GSSB’s Due Process Protocol, which ensures a transparent process and provides many opportunities for input from diverse stakeholders.

A multi-stakeholder expert Working Group has been formed to revise the content, with leading experts from the ILO, the Centre for Safety and Health Sustainability, IOSH, and U.S. OSHA, among many others.

The draft standard will be published for public comment between August and October 2017. The final standard is expected to be published March-April 2018.

Result 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.

Conclusion The new standard will be of significant interest to Congress participants, with the potential to affect the day-to-day work of many. Featuring the input of leading organisations in OSH, it will represent a credible attempt to standardise the way that organisations worldwide communicate about their OSH impacts. Ultimately, the transparency created by such a standard is intended to lead to positive change, thus contributing to sustainable development. For these reasons, GRI would value the opportunity to present the standard at the Congress.