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 organizations continue to search for ways to improve employee engagement in health and safety. Employee engagement continues to be a primary challenge for many, and research results show more than 60 percent of respondents reported injuries, illnesses and accidents during the past 12 months.
Much of their focus is on uncovering the cause of incidents and near-misses faster and input and engagement of employees is crucial to those efforts. Many organizations are prioritizing technology and training specifically targeted at improving health and safety processes by tracking incidents and conducting job safety analysis to determine where hazards exist.
The full report highlights issues that contribute to the workplace incident problem and observes that getting employees onboard with improving EHS and ESG performance means making it easier for them to report incidents and near misses. It is suggested that the easiest way to do this is to “implement technology that is fit for purpose.”
Respondents represented wide ranging industries – from energy and industrial manufacturing to construction and chemicals. The intent of the research was to better understand how European businesses are expanding their EHS and ESG focus, specifically around:
- Where are they focusing their efforts
- Where are they seeing success
- What challenges are they wrestling with
Download the latest chapter of Intelex’s research to see all of the survey results and gain insight into how organizations are engaging workers, growing their businesses, protecting the planet and driving competitive advantage through EHS and ESG improvements. This research is just one of Intelex’s efforts to heed “voice of the customer” to determine what EHSQ professionals are focusing on as they strive to eliminate workplace deaths, protect the planet and improve production efficiencies.
