BSI invites views for UK’s first suicide awareness standard

BS 30480, published by the British Standards Institution, will provide guidelines to help organisations plan for, respond to, and support people affected by suicide.

Marcus Long, Chief Executive at the Independent International Organisation for Assurance, said this is the “crucial phase” for the standard:

“We invite everyone to give their comments on the standard so that we can improve the standard and make it the best we possibly can. We want people with knowledge, experience, any kind of passion for the subject… to give us their views.”

Over 6,000 people take their life each year in the UK. In 2023, the last year for which we have statistics, it was the highest suicide rate since 1999. The suicide rate for females alone was the highest rate seen since 1994, according to the ONS.

In 2023, the last year for which we have statistics, was the highest suicide rate since 1999. Photograph: iStock

Standard BS 30480 will be freely available and provide guidance to organisations for putting in place “systematic, appropriate and compassionate prevention and support measures” and for the intervention, prevention and support for people affected by suicide.

It will give intervention practices for people who might be experiencing suicide thoughts and behaviours or supporting someone who has been affected by suicide.

The BSI says it will be informed by relevant data, research and lived experience, describing “ways to monitor and adjust those measures to maintain their effectiveness and impact.”

“We [want to] make sure the standard is being produced to the best we can possibly can, to help us try and prevent more suicides in the UK and try and abate this terrible blight that we have at the moment,” added Long.

Comments are invited until 16 July. Visit this page for more information

First draft of the BS 30480 Suicide and the workplace – Intervention, prevention and support for people affected by suicide – Guide here