EHS ROI Should Be the Endgame, Rather than the Start of Your Investment Pitch

The inherent value of occupational health and safety (OHS) for every business and organization makes it seem unimaginable that anyone would argue the importance or necessity of protecting workers on the job. 

So why can it be so difficult to obtain additional and necessary investment to improve safety performance? Perhaps the answer lies in the capitalist axiom that business is business, after all, and any investment made must be measured by a resulting payback.  

When it’s necessary to quantify environmental, health and safety (EHS) investment dollar benefits, return on investment (ROI) comes into play. And, while there are many tools and calculators available to help construct an ROI, before spending the time and effort to build a business case, it’s necessary to understand a couple of fundamental things – namely, for whom ROI is important and whether it is truly how a business thinks about safety.  

Related content: The ROI Read more...

EHS Management Software Company Intelex Is Turning 30! So What’s the Big Deal?

For 30 years, Intelex has empowered our customers to eliminate workplace deaths, reduce climate impact and create sustainable business. Join us as we continue our mission and usher in the future of EHS.

There are companies out there that have been operating for 100+ years, 200+ years, even longer, so what’s the big deal about a company that sells EHS management software, ESG management software, quality management software and risk management software turning 30?

I’ll tell you, and it’s two things: The pairing of EHS management, ESG management, quality management and risk management with the word “software,” and the fact that we are in it for the long haul and are even more excited about our future than we are about our storied past.

Think back 30-40 years. There weren’t any software companies serving the practice of EHSQ. There weren’t ISO management standards. People weren’t really talking about safety culture … Read more...

WHO/ILO: Work-Related Causes Claim the Lives of Almost 2 Million People Worldwide each Year

Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at WHO: “These almost 2 million premature deaths are preventable. Action needs to be taken based on the research available to target the evolving nature of work-related health threats.”

Work-related diseases and injuries were responsible for the deaths of 1.9 million people in 2016, according to the first joint estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO). These WHO/ILO global estimates on disease and injury in the workplace outline the level of preventable premature deaths due to exposure to work-related health risks.

“It’s shocking to see so many people literally being killed by their jobs,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Our report is a wake-up call to countries and businesses to improve and protect the health and safety of workers by honouring their commitments to provide universal coverage of occupational health and … Read more...

Artificial Intelligence Stakes its Claim in EHS Management

ehsAI’s cloud-based platform applies NLP algorithms to interpret and extract EHS requirements from regulatory documents.
ehsAI’s cloud-based platform applies NLP algorithms to interpret and extract EHS requirements from regulatory documents. This output can be exported into EHS software systems such as Intelex EHS Management Software to manage requirements and tasks and ensure timely execution.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology, in the context of EHS management, seems a perfect fit in an essential area: the need to wade through a morass of complex and ever-changing regulations, compliance, permits, consent decrees and other critical EHS documents. It’s a human-intensive and often error-prone task that, if done improperly, risks fines and other penalties for failure to comply.

Document deconstruction – to identify the actions that EHS professionals are required to take – is difficult, time-consuming, complicated and expensive because of the manual grunt-work need from many people to pore through and analyze EHS documents. 

Vancouver, Canada-based ehsAI has developed an AI technology based on machine learning and natural … Read more...

Headcount or Upgraded EHS Management Software and Tools: Which Brings More Value in 2022?

As an EHS professional who fights fires all day long, are you dedicated to hiring more firefighters or building a strategy using EHS management software to eliminate the fires in the first place?

As an EHS professional, it can be common practice to focus on the problems of the day: knocking out inspections, analyzing regulatory or policy requirements, evaluating work tasks and doing our best to influence team members who have priorities that often compete with our objectives.

But, in this state of focus, it can be all too easy to overlook the tools that might help us step back from the fires and approach work more strategically.

  • We allow ourselves to tinker and waste time creating (or fixing) the 12 spreadsheets we use to manage our programs.
  • We stress about the stack of papers piling up on our desks.
  • We waste countless hours sending and receiving emails in an
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Majority of Private Sector Workforce in U.S. Impacted by OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Standard

Occupational Safety and Health Administrationannounces an emergency temporary standard to protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of coronavirus.
84 million workers covered under an emergency temporary standard aimed at protecting workers from coronavirus.

The waiting and speculation is over: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced a new emergency temporary standard to protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of the coronavirus on the job. It is estimated two-thirds of workers in the private sector are included in this mandate.

Under this standard, covered employers—which includes any employer with 100 or more employees total—must develop, implement and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, unless they adopt a policy requiring employees to choose to either be vaccinated or undergo regular COVID-19 testing and wear a face covering at work.

Since 2020, the coronavirus has led to the deaths of 750,000 people in the United States, and the infection of millions more, making it the deadliest pandemic in the nation’s history. Many of … Read more...

Here’s How ESG Will Further the Cause of EHS

ESG will further the cause of EHSQ
No doubt most EHS professionals would rightly declare the work they’ve been doing has aligned with many ESG principles all along.

Ever-growing interest by financial investors and consumers in companies that do the right things for people and the planet by adhering to the guiding principles of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria is great news for Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) concerns.

What does one have to do with the other?

EHS has long been positioned as a cost avoidance function to protect company profits through protection programming. But with growing interest by businesses and their efforts to align with ESG, the one will most definitely help the other. 

“With ESG, there’s a triple bottom line: profit, people, and the planet that will be demanded not only by the internal stakeholder, but the consumer and those looking to invest as shareholders,” says Intelex Vice-President of Health and Safety, Scott Read more...

Defining and Overcoming Cultural Barriers to EHS Data Collection

Lowering the cultural barriers to EHS data collection is critical if you want your organizations to make data driven decisions to improve workplace safety.
Lowering the cultural barriers to EHS data collection is critical if you want your organizations to make data driven decisions to improve workplace safety.

Culture is a word that is commonly used at most companies and building a safety culture is often a focus of EHS professionals. However, a specific focus on lowering the cultural barriers to data collection can have a huge impact on the greater safety culture and help embed safety in everyday operations.

In a recent poll, we asked EHS professionals: What is your biggest barrier to collecting accurate EHS data? The clear winner was “cultural barriers to data entry” followed by “training of data collectors,” which received 39% and 30% of the vote respectively. Lowering the cultural barriers to data entry is critical if you want to collect quality, honest and timely data to make better data driven decisions. So, how can we lower the cultural … Read more...

COVID-19 Delta Variant: 42% of Workers Are Worried about Returning to the Workplace

Due to the Delta variant of COVID-19, more workers than ever are concerned about returning to work.

As the Delta variant continues to proliferate and workers head into the Labor Day weekend, 42 percent say they are worried about returning to the workplace for fear of contracting COVID-19. This marks a substantial jump from June 2021, when only 24 percent had that concern.

“With headlines about the rise of the Delta variant, breakthrough cases among the vaccinated, and an overburdened healthcare system in much of the country, COVID-19 concerns that were subsiding just two months ago have risen,” said Rebecca Ray, PhD, Executive Vice President of Human Capital at The Conference Board, a think tank.

Conducted in August by The Conference Board, the new survey captured the thoughts of more than 2,400 U.S. workers on topics including return-to-work anxiety, factors driving them to pursue new job opportunities, opinions about … Read more...

Meet Ethan Cushing, Who Is Introducing the APAC Region to Intelex’s Powerful Platform

Our new series of blog posts invite you to “Meet the Intelexian.” In this case, it’s Ethan Cushing, who’s focusing on building our global footprint in the APAC region.

Ethan Cushing is Strategic Account Director, Intelex Technologies. He started with Intelex in 2011; his 10-year work anniversary will be in December. He currently manages the APAC sales team, which he started in July 2021. In addition to being responsible for our revenue targets in the APAC region, he supports our new team members in a pre-sales capacity, ensuring they have product knowledge and support as they work through the sales cycle with prospects and existing customers.

I (virtually) sat down with Ethan recently to find out more about him and his role at Intelex.

Intelex: Can you tell us a little about your professional background and what attracted you to Intelex/technology?

Ethan Cushing (EC): I have been in technology since 2006 after … Read more...