Tag Archives: EHS

What is Incident Management in Safety? (And How Does It help Your OSHA Recordkeeping?)

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Incident management, the process of identifying, documenting, responding to and eliminating workplace injuries and illnesses, is a fundamental obligation for many employers. An important aspect of incident management in safety is OSHA recordkeeping and determining what incidents should be tracked and what data needs to be collected and reported to regulators can be confusing.

Say you reported to your manager that you had a headache. You’re not sure what caused it and are given three acetaminophen capsules. Is this considered a first-aid case by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or is it a recordable injury incident that must be tracked? What if you were only given one capsule? Is it still first aid or should it be recorded by your incident management system? 

An employee goes on one day of light duty at work. Is that a recordable? What if it lasts two days? A worker sprains an ankle … Read more...

More Work and More Tech Needed to Take EHS to the Next Level of Success

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The COVID-19 pandemic placed EHS in the spotlight and has tasked professionals to do more than ever in managing risks within and outside of traditional workspace confines.

The future of environment, health and safety will see the need for more technology adoption by organizations as EHS professionals take on much greater workloads and a role in total worker wellness largely due to the outfall of COVID-19.  

These were among the key observations and topics of discussion during the first day of the Verdantix virtual summit on Innovating for Sustainable Operations that focused on EHS and operations.

Next Level for EHS

During a session titled, Taking EHS to the Next Level of Success, presenters considered how the responsibilities and workloads of EHS professionals have been impacted as hybrid and remote working becomes more popular. 

Verdantix CEO David Metcalfe said the COVID-19 pandemic placed EHS in the spotlight and has tasked … Read more...

EHS Software Solves a Need for Speed for This Construction Company

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Moss searched for a safety management system and settled on the Intelex Health and Safety Management platform to organize all the data it had been collecting.
Moss went searching for a health and safety management system and settled on the Intelex Health and Safety Management platform to bring all its data from various processes into a centralized database, including incident reporting, inspections, behavioral-based observations, recorded near misses, good catches and even safety suggestions.

Fast growing companies often find themselves needing a high-performance approach to environmental health and safety (EHS).

Take the case of Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based construction company Moss & Associates, whose vice president of environmental health and safety, Scott Gerard, recently told the story of his company’s business growth. During a presentation at the 2021 EHS Today Safety Leadership Conference, Gerard said Moss started out as a company of 300 people some 17 years ago and has today become an organization of more than 3,000 employees with expectations to reach 6,000 this year.

But high growth often moves too quickly past other corporate capabilities. In … Read more...

Insights from NAEM Part III: Technology, Empathy and Diversity

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Highlights from the NAEM conference on EHS and sustainability featured expert knowledge on machine learning, change management and workplace diversity, all of which will be important themes in the post-pandemic world.

The EHS & Sustainability Management Forum from the National Association of EHS&S Management (NAEM) demonstrated the importance of balancing cutting-edge technology innovation with human empathy, dignity and inclusion, which will become an increasingly important theme in 2022. Here is a summary of some select sessions:

The Human Side of EHS&S

While conversations about data and digital transformation dominate the marketplace, it’s easy to neglect the needs of the humans who make up the workforce in EHS&S. The morning roundtable discussion on the human side of EHS&S explored how technology and change management need to operate hand-in-hand for organizations to find success.

The role of digital technology as both a tool and a goal was an important theme. … Read more...

Insights from NAEM 2021 Part 1: Communication and Innovation at the Intersection of EHS and ESG

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The NAEM 2021 EHS and Sustainability Management Forum was the place to be for EHS practitioners last week. For those who weren't able to be there, we have summaries from some of the sessions to help you learn about the impact of ESG and the evolution of EHS.
The NAEM 2021 EHS and Sustainability Management Forum was the place to be for EHS practitioners last week. For those who weren’t able to be there, we have summaries from some of the sessions to help you learn about the impact of ESG and the evolution of EHS.

The National Association for EHS&S Management (NAEM) held its EHS & Sustainability Management Forum online from October 19-21. Subject matter experts from industry and academia, along with leading EHS and ESG vendors, reviewed recent EHS&S developments from the past year and provided a preview of what to expect in 2022 as ESG begins to take center stage for many organizations. While interest in ESG has advanced steadily over the last few years, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought it into greater focus as the world looks to avert the climate crisis while strengthening global resiliency and augmenting the social benefits of capitalism. This … Read more...

Data Does not Speak for Itself: You Have to Speak for It

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Letting the data speak for itself can result in unrecognizable insights for many in your organization. Data needs to be interpreted to make sense.

The data will speak for itself. This is a phrase that is commonly thrown around in data analytics circles.

Often the people who say the data will speak for itself are the ones who are closest to the data, and for them, this might be true. EHS analysts, business analysts and other disciplines that focus on data collection, cleaning, preparation and analysis are closest to the data.

However, for employees of departments whose focus is not data analysis, the data can look like it is speaking Italian instead of English. This means that “letting the data speak for itself” can result in unrecognizable insights for many in your organization.

The practice of environmental, health and safety (EHS) is experiencing growing pains when it comes to analysis … Read more...

Workers Memorial Day 2021: Mourn the Dead, Fight for the Living

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Every year on April 28, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) commemorate Workers Memorial Day. Also known as the International Day of Mourning, this is the day we remember and honor the men and women who have lost their lives on the job. Many of these devastating losses were preventable if standards had been followed, appropriate controls existed and if safety and health programs were a priority.

In 2021, the DOL also observes OSHA’s 50th anniversary. Before the 1971 enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the creation of OSHA, many U.S. workers lacked basic protections from workplace hazards. Since then, OSHA and its many partners have helped transform U.S. workplaces and have reduced injuries, illnesses and fatalities significantly.

“Workers Memorial Day reminds us of the sacrifices many workers make to earn their wages and provide for themselves and … Read more...

IWD2021: Thérèse Schölvinck: #ChoosetoChallenge Starts by Challenging Yourself

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The theme for IWD2021 is: “A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change.”  IWD2021 is asking: How will you help forge a gender-equal world? The answer is by celebrating women’s achievements, raising awareness against bias and taking action for equality.

Through our annual IWD blog series, we want to introduce you to a group of women – our employees, customers and partners – who personify the achievements of women in tech and in EHSQ.

Find out why the word “why” – typically a challenge-type word – is so important to Thérèse.

What is your name, title and company?

Thérèse Schölvinck, Director – PD People – HR Business Partners, European Patent Office

I studied Industrial Design Engineering at the Technical University in Delft, The Netherlands. Istarted to work at the European Patent Office as a Patent Examiner in 1991. In addition to my core job, I was … Read more...

How to Make Your Mark as an Influential Leader in the EHS Space

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What Makes a Great EHS Leader

While being a good leader takes work, being a great leader comes naturally to some, but for others, it takes a combination of dedication and insight. This applies to leaders across the board – the fields of environment, health and safety (EHS) are no exception.

So then the next question becomes: What makes a great leader?

Initially, EHS leaders were hired for their technical expertise. Now, they are being perceived as a part of the larger operational team, which can include human resources, finance, operations, quality and more.

As the role of the EHS leader has evolved, both in terms of breadth and depth, the role has become one that has greater influence and impact on the business. For this reason, companies look at the strength of these leaders, not only to help the business meet its EHS objectives, but also help it meet business objectives by engaging … Read more...

Our Upcoming Expert Connect Session: The Evolving Role of the EHS Professional—Planning for Crisis

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Expert Connect EHS Professional

In the words of award-winning psychologist Albert Bandura: “Learning is bidirectional. We learn from the environment, and the environment learns and is modified thanks to our actions.”  With that in mind, we created our Expert Connect series to provide attendees with an exciting experience based on the exchange of ideas, experiences and industry knowledge.


Introducing Our Upcoming Session: The Evolving Role of the EHS Professional—Planning for Crisis


We’re excited to announce our fourth session, The Evolving Role of the EHS Professional—Planning for Crisis, which will be taking place on Wednesday, November 18th!

This session is designed to examine the role of EHS professionals in minimizing disruptions to supply chains and operations—all during post-pandemic times. By attending, you will learn:

  1. The key metrics that have the greatest impact to your sustainability programs and brand.  
  2. How our Intelex solution provides a sustainability performance indicator dashboard to
… Read more...