Tag Archives: metrics

IIoT and the Continuing Evolution of Safety Management Systems

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Safety management systems, like other performance-based systems, have evolved over the years. The establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1971 was a catalyst for a renewed emphasis on health and safety in the workplace, driven mostly by compliance. As a result, the 1970s saw a focused drive toward compliance and physical controls for hazards in the workplace. 

As EHS programs began to mature, the 1980s saw an evolution of behavior-based safety, which utilized a scientific approach based on the theories of Herbert William Heinrich in his definitive book Industrial Accident Prevention, A Scientific Approach. (Heinrich, 1941) Behavior-based safety is a broad term used to describe everything from employee behavior audits and feedback to a comprehensive safety management system designed to change a company’s safety culture. 

The 1990s saw a resurgence of knowledge and capability training combined with new methods of transferring information, such as online training. … Read more...

Seven Leading Indicators to Drive Safety Improvement in Your Organization

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The safety profession has a fixation on measuring using purely negative values. OSHA recordable and lost-time injuries spring to mind—both are lagging (negative) indicators.  

“Once they occur, there is nothing that can be done but to investigate and hopefully learn enough to avoid similar incidents in the future,” says Carey Usrey, Process Improvement Leader at Predictive Solutions in the Insight Report “Seven Leading Indicators to Drive Safety Improvement in Your Organization.” “But even these metrics are flawed, in that a lack of injuries or incidents does not necessarily equate to a safe workplace. It could be a matter of just being lucky.” 

For almost 20 years, Predictive Solutions has helped companies move from “just being lucky,” or in many cases, having not been lucky at all, to saving lives by predicting and preventing workplace injuries. 

According to Usrey, safety experts have made a sound case to adopt leading … Read more...

The Evolution of EHS: How Times Are Changing – And How to Change with Them

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A new eBook from Environment + Energy Leader, The Evolution of EHS: How Times Are Changing – And How to Change with Them, sponsored by Intelex, shares insights from EHS experts and Intelex insiders on justifying your costs to the C-suite, building or expanding a successful EHS program, and using software to solve EHS complexities. They discuss the changing role of the EHS manager and how to incorporate new responsibilities into an already complicated mix. 

The eBook points out that an effective EHS program is built on a few key elements: people, processes, and – to varying degrees – technology. 

“I am a huge fan of the idea that, the better we ‘build’ people, the better our organization performs,” says Scott Gaddis, VP and EHS practice lead at Intelex, who was interviewed for the article. He says that in the organizations where he has led safety, such as Coveris … Read more...

Are you leading…or lagging? Revolutionizing safety performance in Oil and Gas

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Editor’s note: This webinar is now available On Demand. Watch it anytime.

So, you’re tracking safety performance. Great. What metrics are you tracking? Are you measuring the right elements of your safety program? What are your metrics telling you? In short: are you leading, or lagging?

If you can’t answer these questions, join us for Leading and Lagging Indicators: Revolutionizing Safety Performance in Oil & Gas. Geared towards leaders in the oil and gas sector but applicable to any business that has to deal with recording, managing and tracking workplace incidents, accidents, near-misses, environmental impacts and more on a regular basis, this free 30-minute webinar explores how reimagining your approach to environment, health and safety (EHS) metrics can revolutionize organizational performance, minimize costs and curtail risk. It is slated to begin at 3 p.m. EST on Wednesday, August 15.

In the presentation, Intelex oil and gas solution specialists Stephen … Read more...

Is a software-based EMS the only way to effectively improve sustainability performance?

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Monitoring environmental impacts by tracking sustainability KPIs is essential for any business that wants to improve or report on environmental performance. But, from a financial perspective, how these environmental metrics are tracked is as important as the fact they are tracked. Results increasingly show a software-based EMS is the most effective way of improving environmental performance and boosting revenue.

Environmental management has been overcomplicated in recent years, and business leaders often feel overwhelmed by the perceived array of complex requirements associated with environmental performance. But it is actually quite simple. On a rudimentary level, it involves tracking and reporting on four critical metrics: waste and wastewater output, water usage, and air emissions. After analyzing these factors, a business can develop and implement new policies to mitigate its environmental impacts and save money. 

But the most substantial savings of environment management arises from the implementation of a software-based EMS. The return … Read more...

To integrate, or not to integrate… Part 3

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For a company over-anxious to reconcile EHS and Quality processes and data, some complications may emerge.

For example, some integrated management opponents argue that strict adherence to one specific set of standards can be sacrificed in the name of integration. That is, in defining a broad-base of widely applicable standards to enforce across all EHS and Quality domains, some details are institutionally enabled to slip through the cracks.

Really, it all depends on what specifically a company is attempting to integrate. For example, getting managers across all departments to employ the same audit checklists and reports can be like mixing apples and oranges. However, leveraging the same auditing software that allows the importing of individual EHS and quality checklists can reduce costs.

The standards governing quality can be far removed from those governing environment, health and safety. However, this notion can be a very particular function of a particular corporate … Read more...

Successful Sustainability Strategy Series: Tip #5 — Communicate your performance

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We’ve covered the importance of developing a proactive plan, quantifying financial gains, understanding the role of metrics, and using software to manage your sustainability program for the most effective results.

Today let’s talk about the often overlooked element of a winning sustainability program: communicating your progress.

5. Communicate Commitment/Performance to Stakeholders: While the primary function of sustainability initiatives will be the returns they deliver through conservation efforts and a number of other cost-savings effects, don’t miss the boat on the wealth of opportunities that accompany clearly communicating sustainability efforts and accomplishments to stakeholders. When developing a sustainability strategy, consider incorporating an ongoing sustainability reporting plan that conforms to existing frameworks (such as the IIRC, GRI and others).

While some critics have complained that comprehensive sustainability reporting can dominate resources and distract from essential business operations, proper planning, resource allocation and the use of software solutions … Read more...

Successful Sustainability Strategy Series: Tip #4 — Forecast and track with software

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So far in our week-long discussion on building a successful sustainability strategy, we’ve reviewed the importance of developing a proactive plan, quantifying financial gains, and understanding the role of metrics.

Now let’s turn our attention to another critical aspect and something that’s dear to our hearts at Intelex: the role of software. Yes, it could be argued we’re more than marginally invested in the role software plays in sustainability, but we still deeply believe it is an essential part of building an effective program.

4. Use Software to Track Metrics and Forecast: Certainly, though conventional paper- and spreadsheet-based platforms can be and are used to track environmental, social and economic performance, the advantage of integrated software solutions over such archaic means is undisputable.

In particular, some configurable software products already geared towards streamlining the management of EHS systems can be extended to cover most if not … Read more...

Successful Sustainability Strategy Series: Tip #3 — The role of metrics

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We’ve discussed the value of a proactive strategy and quantifying financial gains in building a sustainability strategy.

Today we’ll look at another critical component of a sustainability strategy that is the heart of the adage “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

3. Understand the Role of Metrics: Before you make your first step into the world of sustainability – before you install that first compact fluorescent lightbulb – it’s imperative to understand you need to know where you’re at.

Along the lines of the lightbulb example above, it can be as simple as starting with an energy audit of your plants, offices, sites and other business units. If you know where you’re at, you can begin to set goals and targets, key elements of any successful sustainability strategy. The progress achieved through each action and each campaign within your sustainability strategy will be much more significant if they … Read more...

First FSMA rules in effect July 3. Are you ready?

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Earlier this week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the first set of rules under the landmark Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), legislation signed earlier this year which gives the FDA sweeping powers to prevent food safety disasters.

The two new rules, which take effect July 3, are pretty logical preventive measures that, in all fairness, probably should have been implemented a long time ago. The new rules are as follows:

  • Order on Administration Detention of Food: The first new rule gives the FDA the authority to hold food products that may be contaminated or mislabeled. Before now, the administration only had the right to detain food when it had sufficient evidence it was mislabeled or contaminated, thereby presenting a threat to humans or animals. Now if the FDA even suspects contamination or mislabeling, it can detain the product.
  • Rule on Imported Food:  Organizations importing food now have
… Read more...