Summertime ‘EHS Management’: Remember These 20 Tips to Stay Safe

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Wear proper foot protection and eye protection while doing things like mowing your lawn or pulling out the weed wacker to tame some rough spots.

EHS management doesn’t stop when you leave work. With summer events and vacations come great opportunities for fun and family time. Unfortunately, for some of us, summertime means a trip or two to the local emergency room.

Here are 20 summer safety tips to help you avoid illness and injury, gathered from a variety of sources – including some EHS professionals – as well as some personal experience! With warmer weather comes new hurdles for EHS management, so many of these tips apply to outdoor workers as well as anyone enjoying some time off this summer.

1. Don’t forget the sunscreen! – Sunburn is painful and can ruin a holiday, but exposure to sun can have much more tragic results, such as skin cancer. Reduce … Read more...

To Reap AI’s Rewards, Employers Must Know its Dangers

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The very real dangers surrounding artificial intelligence in human resources environments should not deter companies that are looking to bring the burgeoning technology into their organizations. They just need to fully vet vendors.
The very real dangers surrounding artificial intelligence in human resources environments should not deter companies that are looking to bring the burgeoning technology into their organizations. They just need to fully vet vendors.

Employers that implement artificial intelligence technology for human resources purposes and expect it to run effectively on its own will be setting themselves up for more problems than they had hoped to solve.

This was a key message that U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) head Keith Sonderling delivered during a recent webinar, “Artificial Intelligence in the Workforce.” The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, transgender status, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information.

The webinar, hosted by law firm Conn Maciel Carey, delved into … Read more...

The Environment Ranks Highest as an ESG Priority for those Surveyed in Europe

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New research from Intelex of EHS and ESG professionals in Europe finds that more than half of organizations surveyed are prioritizing environmentally focused ESG activities ahead of other ESG-related considerations.
New research from Intelex of EHS and ESG professionals in Europe finds that more than half of organizations surveyed are prioritizing environmentally focused ESG activities ahead of other ESG-related considerations.

Doing good for the planet is emerging as the primary area of environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) focus for those tasked to manage the progress of ESG initiatives in their organizations, according to recent research conducted across Europe by Intelex.

The environmental aspect of ESG consumes more attention than either of social or governance elements, according to a 2022 survey of more than 700 environmental health and safety (EHS) and ESG professionals from 10 European countries, including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

The third section of the report, Engaging Workers Growing Business and Protecting the Planet, reveals more than half of organizations surveyed are prioritizing environmentally … Read more...

5 Ways EHS Professionals Can Support ESG Initiatives

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As a result of corporate ESG framework requirements, EHS professionals are getting opportunities to be real business partners.

A move by organizations everywhere to adopt environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria could be today’s primary catalyst in transforming the future role of the environment, health and safety (EHS) profession.

ESG issues have taken on an increased sense of urgency for businesses around the world as public opinion becomes sensitive to social and environmental issues. Regulatory changes are expected to set the jumping off point for organizations, and investors and companies will need to have strong frameworks for identifying ESG risks with overall mechanisms and tracking capabilities as part of their management systems.

During an Intelex-sponsored EHS Today webinar in June discussing how safety professionals can support ESG initiatives, Ashley Gill, regional safety manager for Valicor Environmental Services, said there traditionally has been a disconnect between EHS professionals and business … Read more...

Research Shows ESG and EHS Connect People, the Planet and Profits

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Recent Intelex research reveals the companies that a customer chooses to do business with, in addition to how these organizations treat employees, people and the planet are interconnected considerations with a significant impact on the future success of an organization.

The research report, Engaging Workers Growing Business and Protecting the Planet, reveals the common thread that ties these considerations together, according to those surveyed, is the application of environment, social and governance (ESG) criteria and environmental health and safety (EHS).

The report, commissioned by Intelex, surveyed more than 700 EHS and ESG professionals from 10 European countries, including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

The second chapter of the report, The Business Impact of Getting it Right (or Wrong), examines how doing the right things can have far-reaching consequences and affect everything from how easy it is for an organization to attract … Read more...

AFL-CIO: Current OSHA Budget Amounts to $4.37 to Protect each Worker

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Last year, there were only 1,719 OSHA inspectors nationwide, 755 on the federal level and 965 on the state level. That’s just one inspector for every 81,427 workers. Federal OSHA’s budget amounts to $4.37 to protect each worker, with no federal standards for protections against workplace violence and COVID-19. 

Earlier this year, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler highlighted how this year’s Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect report shows that worker injuries and deaths are far too common. Shuler believes OSHA, MSHA, Congress and employers everywhere need to be held accountable for stronger safety measures. 

In the 51 years since the Occupational Safety and Health Act went into effect, workplace safety and health conditions have improved. However, too many workers remain at serious risk of injury, illness or death as chemical plant explosions, major fires, construction collapses, infectious disease outbreaks, workplace assaults and other preventable workplace tragedies continue to … Read more...

What’s the ESG Value Prop for EHS Practitioners?

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Environment, health and safety concerns could all too easily be ignored by business professionals in the past unless there was a significant miss in compliance and targets or a major occupational health and safety incident. But as the importance of environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) become a growing concern for corporations, the mission of EHS has taken on new relevance and value.

Many of today’s investors are making bets on companies that are “good for the planet” and doing their part to protect people and the environment. Likewise, more and more consumers want to put their money and loyalty behind such brands.

Research shows nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of Americans say they would pay more for sustainable products and 78 percent of people are more likely to purchase a product that is clearly labeled as environmentally friendly. What’s more, 77 percent of Americans say they are concerned … Read more...

Degraded Documents Are No Problem…Thanks To OCR

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Uploading degraded documents isn’t a problem with the right software.

Coffee stains…blurred text…missing sentences…

Anyone who has worked with scanned regulatory compliance documents knows they are often not in the greatest shape. Many show their advanced age with smudges, whited-out text due to poor scanning equipment, or copy that slants more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Other times, you may be looking to copy and paste an important requirement sentence from an electronic file, only to discover to your dismay that the document is actually an image, from which no text can be extracted.

It may seem that such compromised documents may pose a problem for ehsAI’s revolutionary EHS regulatory compliance software. Thanks to its advanced Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, however, just about any document can be uploaded into the system and processed, no matter how bad its condition may be.

Thanks to its advanced Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, however, just about any document can be uploaded into the system and processed, no matter how bad its condition may be.

Let’s see how this is possible.

The … Read more...

Research Reveals Employee Engagement is Key to Both EHS and ESG Performance

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New research from Intelex finds that organizations continue to struggle with improving employee engagement in health and safety programs.

Workplace culture and employee engagement challenges are all too familiar within occupational health and safety. They are also likely to have a major impact on successful environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance, according to recent research conducted in Europe by Intelex Technologies LLC.  

The research report, Engaging Workers, Growing Business and Protecting the Planet, observes that improving EHS and ESG performance drives competitive advantage but that getting employees onboard with EHS initiatives may likewise slow ESG progress. 

The report, commissioned by Intelex, surveyed more than 700 EHS and ESG professionals from 10 European countries, including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.  

The first chapter of the report, “Success is about people first and foremost,” focuses on several key research observations, among them: that … Read more...

Understanding the Impact of AI on ESG

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As ESG frameworks begin to move from voluntary to mandatory, the data required to meet these obligations will increase. Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions will have to replace traditional approaches to managing information if organizations want to remain compliant.
As ESG frameworks begin to move from voluntary to mandatory, the data required to meet these obligations will increase. Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions will have to replace traditional approaches to managing information if organizations want to remain compliant.

Over the last few years, the world has started to look like a very different place. A global pandemic, international political instability, a drastic increase in climate-related disasters and greater calls for an end to social inequalities are changing the way we look at the world and the way we interact with our stakeholders. As just one example, according to the World Meteorological Association, there have been 11,000 reported weather-related disasters resulting in more than 2 million deaths and USD $3.64 trillion in damage since 1970. With many environmental researchers predicting that this is likely to worsen in the decades ahead, it becomes clear that we are living in a time … Read more...