Once upon a time, few people gave any thought to the fate of what happened to light bulbs, paint cans, computers and leftover medications after they were done with them. Use them up, throw them away and leave it to the city to figure out how to dispose of them.

Today, that paradigm has been flipped on its head, with companies engaging in product stewardship initiatives that make disposal the responsibility of the manufacturer.  

In today’s post, we’ll look at the business case for product stewardship, including how it directly impacts Environment, Health, Safety and Quality (EHSQ) performance.

Why ISO 45001? What Does It Mean to EHS Leaders?

Did you know that over 7,600 people die each day from work-related accidents or diseases—that’s over 2.78 million every year as stated by the International Labour Organization. Clearly, this number (or any number besides zero) is too high. The burden of occupational injuries and diseases is significant, both for employers and the wider economy, resulting in losses from early retirements, absenteeism and rising insurance premiums. Even worse, employee productivity and morale suffer directly which affects an organization’s bottom line.

To combat the issue, ISO has developed a new standard, ISO 45001 for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.

In 2015, the Code of Federal Regulations totaled nearly 180,000 pages of requirements. While not all of these will apply to any single manufacturer, regulatory compliance is still a major challenge for companies. In fact, many of them aren’t even aware of certain regulatory risks until it’s too late.

This fact is especially true when companies use manual or paper-based methods for quality or environmental management, which make it difficult to effectively track compliance activities.

With that in mind, today’s post looks at a practical, risk-based approach manufacturers can use to identify and assess compliance gaps.

Look at leading organizations with low incidence rates, and you’ll notice one thing many of them have in common: behavior based safety (BBS) programs.

BBS is a best practices strategy for improving safety performance, but without the right tools in place, companies face a high risk of failure. That’s because BBS is all about changing human habits, which are often ingrained over years of habit. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, which is why soft programs that live outside the EHS Management System often fail.

In this post, we’ll look at what BBS is and how technology can help support your BBS program, including tips on how to construct powerful BBS checklists.

Emergency Preparedness Plans (EPPs) let you record personnel, equipment and external parties associated with emergency procedures.

This document is equally as important to members of the EHS and emergency response teams that must create it, as it is to other employees of the organization that must follow it.

Here are three steps to utilize your EHS software to build an effective EPP.

Improving waste management is a top priority for many companies in the EHS industry.

As environmental initiatives gain momentum across many sectors, organizations are pushing to not only comply with hazardous waste regulations but exceed them.

Waste management tools give you oversight of all waste activities, storage areas and shipments to keep waste goals and targets top of mind.

Here are some of the ways utilizing EHSQ software streamlines waste management efforts.

Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the EPA is given the authority to issue regulations regarding the exposure to, testing of and controlling of chemical substances. To keep the workforce and environment safe, regulators have created globally recognized standards for classification and labeling of hazardous chemicals as well as REACH for the European Union.

These standards require an ongoing effort to manage chemical inventory and workplace safety.  Automated EHS software has tools to help you maintain chemical compliance efficiently and safely.

When it comes to making decisions informed by risk, each industry has its preferred risk assessment tools. A risk matrix is a common one, as is Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA).

One tool that doesn’t get as much attention is the bowtie risk assessment. The bowtie model is useful for visualizing complex risk scenarios where you don’t have historical data to create a risk matrix.

Let’s look at how different industries like aviation, energy, life sciences and manufacturing are using this risk model.

Water and wastewater management are closely tied with energy use, environmental impact and employee safety, as each of these impacts—and is impacted by—water management processes in your organization.

Just like with all of your other EHS processes, how you manage and organize water and wastewater management can make a big difference in its success.

Here are some benefits of managing all water and wastewater permits, analytical results and reports in one central platform.

Humans have been concerned with industrial hygiene since ancient times, when in the 4^th Century B.C., Greek physician Hippocrates (of the famed Hippocratic Oath) described the case of a miner with lead poisoning.

Today the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers to comply with a range of laws and requirements dealing with industrial hygiene. In fact, a full 40% of the OSHA inspection workforce is made up of industrial hygienists responsible for enforcing rules at more than 6 million workplaces.   

So what do companies need to track, and how can they better protect workers? Let’s look at the basics of industrial hygiene, including hazards, controls and risk assessment strategies.