Several different metrics are employed by organizations to keep track of their progress towards achieving sustainability goals. These performance indicators typically show up in annual sustainability reports or on the sustainability sections of corporate websites. Executives and environmental managers usually have access to these KPIs on the dashboards of Environmental Mangement Systems and/or Safety Management Systems. Here is a brief survey of some of the most popular indicators.  

SAFETY

Cost of solved safety non-conformances
Health and safety prevention costs
Lost time (in hours) due to accidents (including fatalities)
Lost time (in h ours) due to non-fatal accidents
Number of fatalities
Number of non-conformance with legal or internal standards in safety inspections
Number of solved safety non-conformances
Number of reportable accidents(including fatalities)
Number of reportable non-fatal accidents
Percentage of corrective actions closed out within specified time-frame
Total of hours in safety and health training

ENERGY USE

Total Energy Use (Joules or Million kWh)

WATER USE

Water Use (million L)

AIR EMISSIONS

Carbon Dioxide (million kg)
Ozone Depleting Substance Releases (Kg)
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) (Kg)
Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) (Kg)
Permitted Air Emissions (million kg)

WASTE

Hazardous Waste Generation (million kg)
Hazardous Waste Disposal (million kg)
Hazardous Waste Recycled (million kg)

SOLID WASTE

Solid Waste Generation (million kg)
Solid Waste Disposal (million kg)
Solid Waste Recycled (million kg)

WATER DISCHARGES

Wastewater Discharge (million L)
Wastewater Discharge (million L/billion $)

Bersin and Associates, an Oakland, California based research and advisory firm, recently released the results of a comprehensive survey on employee performance management. The survey revealed several nuggets of wisdom, but the finding that jumped out the most for me was the fact that more than 85% of organizations reported seeing demonstrable positive impact after implementation of a performance management system. That's a pretty impressive satisfaction rate. The survey involved more than 700 respondents, thirty percent of whom were employees of companies in the top 100 of the Fortune 500.

Business Performance Mangement

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has recently made a four-part training manual available to use for free on its website. The Powered Industrial Trucks (Forklift) eTool is a resource designed to enhance the safety of employees who operate forklifts. It is not meant to be a replacement for OSHA mandated training. Employers are encouraged to use it as a supplement for any existing truck operator training programs.

Dashboards have become virtually indispensible to workers and managers. They provide graphical information in the form of charts and graphs as opposed to spreadsheets and reports, thereby enabling a big-picture view of an enterprise.

Despite the obvious benefits, dashboards can tend to become counterproductive if not properly deployed. There is a risk of information overload if care is not taken to select only the necessary indicators.  Privacy concerns and employee morale issues can also arise if details of individual worker performance are widely accessible.

Here are a few suggestions for successful dashboard implementation:

1. Keep it Simple. Avoid overloading your dashboards with every conceivable metric related to your business.  Information overload will lead to distractions and keep the focus away from your organization’s vital stats. 
2. Participate in the Development. The design and implementation of dashboards is often left to consultants and IT personnel. It is important to include the managers and employees who will be using the system in the development cycle. 
3. Don't micromanage. One of the dangers of being able to instantly track every facet of a business’ operation is a tendency to micromanage.  Managers obsessed with the minutiae of their employees activities can be tempted into micromanagement which then reduces productivity and places unprecedented pressure on workers.

The National Safety Council presented its 2008 Robert W. Campbell Award to Fluor Hanford, a department of energy contractor, and Bahrain-based Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC).  The Campbell Award honors organizations that have demonstrated how implementation of environmental, health and safety (EHS) management systems can positively impact business productivity and profitability.

Previous winners of the award include Johnson & Johnson and Montreal-based Alcan Inc.

Several studies have shown that implementation of EQH&S Systems not only results in increased productivity, but they also lower costs associated with insurance, medical expenditures, fewer defective products, and workers' compensation insurance. For more information about how your business can benefit from Environmental, Quality, and Health Management systems, please contact an Intelex representative.

This week, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) levied a fine of $50,000 on a manufacturer of plastic lamination products for failing to close hazardous waste containers. Last week, an even larger fine of $157,500 was imposed on a residential developer for discharging polluted storm water from a construction site. The EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) describes itself as the “environmental cop” on the beat dedicated to improving the environment and protecting the public health. It is a 3,400 strong team of environmental professionals who monitor compliance, provide compliance information, and when necessary, initiate civil and criminal enforcement action. Last year, the EPA's enforcement program racked up a total of $63 million in fines and restitutions, along with 64 years of incarceration for cases that resulted in convictions. The EPA doesn't just hold corporations accountable for environmental violations – it can also come after individuals.

In order to carry out its mission, the EPA relies on regulated entities to provide data and comprehensive reporting on their activities. Individuals and companies that knowingly fail to comply with this requirement are subject to criminal prosecution.

Environment Canada is the equivalent Canadian agency, while in Europe, environmental regulation is enforced by individual EU member nations. Wide differences exist between levels of enforcement by member states. This situation has led to the use of environmental safe havens where companies outsource their operations to other European countries with laxer or nonexistent environmental penalties.  Last year, the European Commission proposed a directive that requires adoption of minimum sanctions for environmental crimes across member states.

Discharges of pollutants and improper disposition of hazardous materials are the types of environmental misdeeds that often receive the most publicity. Recently, attention is being drawn to less conspicuous, yet significant environmental threats. Data centers are one such threat. The giant clusters of networked computers that serve up e-mail, web pages, video and other services have quickly become one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases. The incredible amounts of electrical power required by a typical data center generates a lot of unwelcome heat, which has to be reduced by copious air conditioning, which in turn consumes a greater amount of electrical power. According to a recent study by the consulting firm, McKinsey and Company, data centers are on pace to overtake the airline industry as top greenhouse polluters by the year 2020.

The number of organizations achieving ISO 14001 certifications around the world continues to grow at a quick pace. The ISO secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland conducts an annual survey of organizations that implement ISO standards. A report detailing the results of the survey is published annually. The most recent report shows a sixteen percent increase in ISO 14001 certifications from the year before. The countries with the most certificates are Japan, China, and Spain – with China showing the quickest growth in total certificates. ISO 14001 is the most widely used standard for implementing environmental sustainable practices around the world.

Forbes.com has put together this list of the most dangerous jobs in America. The data was drawn from a report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

1. Fishers and related workers (111.8 fatalities per 100,000)

2. Loggers (86.4 fatalities per 100,000)

3. Pilots and Flight Engineers (66.7 fatalities per 100,000)

4. Iron and Steel Workers (45.5 fatalities per 100,000)

5. Farmers and Ranchers (38.4 fatalities per 100,000)

6. Roofers (29.4 fatalities per 100,000)

7. Electrical Power Line Installers and Repairers (29.1 fatalities per 100,000)

8. Drivers (truckers and salespeople) (26.2 fatalities per 100,000)

9. Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors (22.8 fatalities per 100,000)

10. Police Sheriffs and Patrol Officers (21.4 fatalities per 100,000)

It is often a challenge to keep employees constantly aware and engaged when it comes to safety.  An occasional dose of shock can go a long way in reinforcing the message. This can come in the form of graphic or emotional videos such as the ones listed below.

WARNING: These clips have allegedly made otherwise "tough guys" break into sobbing fits at the prospect of a serious accident.

Off site accident (prevent-it.ca)
Ladder fall (prevent-it.ca)
Jackhammer accident (prevent-it.ca)
Kitchen fire (prevent-it.ca)

The module homepages that are a new feature introduced in Intelex 5 were designed for users to have ready access to all the features they need related to a module. These include tasks, RSS feeds (which incidentally show the latest entries from this blog), as well as calendars, message center, and scorecards.

I recently met up with Ketul Shah, our resident scorecards expert, to discuss some of the finer details of Metric Scorecards. A Metric Scorecard is a type of Key Performance Indicator. They're  basically numbers that tell managers and employees how well certain facets of their operations are performing.  They could be ratios, percentages, time units, or dollar figures.  Anything from the number of nonconformances in the past month to total safety incidents may be represented.  A neat feature is the ability to specify high and low thresholds so that when a metric dips below or exceeds specified levels, you can spot it right away by the color the number is displayed in or by the absence or presence of a check mark.

Ketul quickly showed me how to create and setup a Metric Scorecard. It literally took less than four minutes to build one and get it up and going.  To start building one, go to the Metric Columns tab in the Dashboards and Scorecards module and then add an entry.  From there, you can specify your variables and define your calculations. You can optionally assign metrics to groups.  Once you're done setting up and saving the metric columns, go to Scorecard Editor to configure and add the newly created Metric Scorecard to your module homepage.

If you are interested in taking a look at some preconfigured scorecards, several of them will soon be available to download at the Intelex Exchange.