Help Develop the Next Generation of GRI Standards on Water and Occupational Health & Safety

GRI and the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) are excited to announce the first set of GRI Standards open for review in 2017 - GRI 303: Water and GRI 403: Occupational Health and Safety.  Stakeholders with expertise in these areas can apply now to participate in the development process.
About the GRI Standards
In October 2016, the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) published the GRI Standards – the first global standards for sustainability reporting. These modular, interrelated reporting Standards are designed to allow each Standard to be reviewed individually, helping to ensure they stay up-to-date in the evolving field of sustainability reporting.

GRI 303: Water and GRI 403: Occupational Health and Safety are the first two topic-specific Standards prioritized for review, as set out in the GSSB Work Program. Following the GSSB’s due process, expert Project Working Groups will be formed to develop recommended updates for these Standards.

Open call for Project Working Group nominations
A call for nominations is now open for the water and occupational health and safety Project Working Groups. Those with expertise and interest in these topics can apply to join the Working Groups until 19 February 2017. The selected Project Working Groups will work to ensure that the content of the revised Standards reflect internationally-agreed best practice and recent developments for the management and reporting of these topics.

More about the review projects
In addition to reviewing disclosures for water management and impacts, the review of GRI 303: Water will also consider effluents-related disclosures from GRI 306: Effluents and Waste.  More information about the Review of GRI 303: Water can be found in the Project Proposal, in the Project Working Group Terms of Reference, or on the project website.

The review of GRI 403: Occupational Health and Safety will build on prior efforts to scope potential updates for the occupational health and safety indicators in the G4 Guidelines. It will review the Standard’s disclosures on rates of work-related injuries, fatalities and disease, and how workers and the organizations manage these issues. More information about this review can be found in the Project Proposal, in the Project Working Group Terms of Reference, or on the project website.​

Timeline for review
The call for nominations to both Project Working Groups will remain open from 16 January to 19 February 2017. The Project Working Groups will be selected in March, and will subsequently conduct their review of the respective Standards between April and July 2017. During this review they will recommend any revisions necessary to ensure the Standards reflect the global best practice for reporting on these topics.

Based on these recommendations, the GSSB and the Standards Division will develop revised Standards. These drafts will then be exposed for a 90-day public comment period, between August and November of 2017 – giving all stakeholders a chance to review and respond to the changes. After reviewing and incorporating the public feedback at the end of 2017, the Project Working Group and the GSSB will finalize and approve the updated GRI Standards, with publication of the final Standards tentatively expected in the first quarter of 2018.

Find out more and get involved
To get involved, review and respond to the open call for Project Working Group nominations, or sign up to stay informed about the projects, including public comment opportunities. You can also read more about these and future Standards reviews on the our GRI Standards update page, or email water@globalreporting.org or ohs@globalreporting.org for more information.