EHS Summit North America 2024

As ESG regulatory reporting is increasing it is creating demands on EHS. This is creating both an opportunity and a challenge for EHS function. We will discuss both the challenges and how to maximize the opportunities to create value for EHS and organization overall.

Strong EHS management systems are the backbones of high-performing EHS functions, helping them to meet their desired targets with ease and simplicity. However, there are several considerations as to how to make an EHS management system strong, and keep it that way, including:

How to simplify the language, reduce the paperwork, and streamline the policies of an EHS management system so that all relevant stakeholders can engage with it.Which types of EHS management system software modules are the most effective in meeting compliance obligations and managing risk.How to design management systems that can meet ISO, OSHA, OHS, WHS and other standards. How EHS management systems can be used to also enhance quality and sustainability metrics.

EHS executives across the world accept the need and value of a robust data management strategy. Any stragglers still doubting this need have largely been eliminated with the emergence of mandatory ESG reporting requirements that demand investor-grade data, much of which comes from the EHS function. The challenge for many EHS executives is that digital strategy development is not a core skill and many have no experience of digital transformation projects and often incomplete understanding of the ESG agenda. In this session, we’ll share some of the mis-steps we’ve seen from firms over the past 15 years and highlight the five things every EHS exec needs to know before investing in digital solutions.

Many presume that an environment, health and safety function is merely a cost of doing business. There is the perception of the so-called ‘operations vs health, safety and environment’ trade-off. However, there are indications that investing in EHS delivers greater corporate growth and efficiency. Between 1987 and 1999, the industrial giant Alcoa famously increased its market value from $3 billion to $27.53 billion by focusing on worker safety. In more recent times, organizations’ access to capital is more often dependent on ESG and sustainability considerations. This panel debates to what extent and how EHS practitioners can demonstrate the value of EHS to gain greater budget, by discussing: 

The main reasons why and the extent to which the board and other functions (R&D, operations, sustainability, procurement) value strong EHS performance. How much value is added through “safe and sustainable” production?The positive impact EHS can have on research and development projects.To what extent investment in EHS can increase employee motivation and productivity and reduce liabilities - including workers' compensation.

Workshop focused on highlighting the immense value of building a health and safety platform based on best practices.

Defining foundations of best practices in health and safety management, including aligning organizational policies, procedures, and protocols with industry standards and regulations.Solution Best Practice Case Study: Optimizing the Incident Management process through digital best practices, including best-in-class employee engagement, training, and robust insights.Identifying the right time and opportunity to enhance process digitization through advanced technologies, including AI-powered ergonomics assessments as well as potential SIF identification.

By attending this workshop, participants will gain practical strategies and insights to build a health and safety platform that is rooted in best practices with a pathway to the value of complementary advanced tech.  

Culture influences employee conduct, involvement, responsibility, and how risks are perceived. A favorable culture is fundamental for ensuring adherence, facilitating clear communication, and driving ongoing enhancements. It acts as a driving force for improving health, safety and environmental metrics and strengthening the reputation of an organization. This session will address:

How to ensure that incidents of all levels of severity are dealt with appropriately so that “zero by choice” is achievable. Whether culture is more effectively transformed through a bottom-up or top-down approach?Justifying investment in safety culture transformation by showing how improvements can add value to the whole company culture. 

Psychological safety is an environment where individuals feel safe to express themselves, take risks, and make mistakes without fear of negative consequences. It fosters trust, respect, open communication, and constructive feedback, enabling collaboration, innovation, and personal growth within teams and organizations, therefore creating a 'sustainable workforce'. This panel discusses: 

Understanding the various impacts that psychological safety has on productivity, learning and retention.Using the most effective methods to incentivize employees to call out issues in the workplace.Informing a psychological safety program by considering the various reasons why staff struggle to speak out about unsafe practices.  

To mitigate risk and improve the sustainability of the compliance program, Georgia Power reworked its Environmental Management System and redeployed the Enablon software platform. This resulted in a tighter alignment between business processes and technology, and a simplification of the program, making it easier to understand and execute. In this session, you’ll learn about the steps Georgia Power took to streamline their EMS for tighter alignment with their business processes and how this simplified system resulted in improved compliance and user adoption.

Implementing the five principles of HOP in an organization. Identifying and gathering better data on the various risks in operations using HOP. How to use data taken from HOP systems to better control and manage risks.

Organizations taking on contractors often expose themselves to higher levels of hazards due to changes in personnel. When faced with these issues there are a series of risk barriers that can be deployed to ensure that EHS standards continue to be met. This session discusses some of the key issues and risk barriers that can be put in place when managing contractors, such as:

Eliminating SIF by identifying the top risks that emerge when bringing on contractors.How to quickly integrate contractors into the culture of an organization to ensure compliance and safety.Reducing the administrative burden of managing contractors by using digital tools.  

There are numerous prevailing myths regarding ergonomics, including: a) the validity of traditional musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk assessment tools; b) the ineffectiveness of technology to improve MSD risk assessment quality and speed; and, c) only experts can conduct MSD risk assessments and implement meaningful ergonomics interventions. The truth is, advanced MSD risk assessments combined with technology capabilities do provide better quality assessments, faster. Dispelling these misconceptions and conveying the reality about ergonomics is crucial for establishing and sustaining a viable ergonomics job improvement process. It's imperative to underscore how modern technologies, particularly machine learning and AI, can aid companies in safeguarding and retaining their employees. In this session, we will address the prevalent myths and unveil the truths necessary for optimizing your company's performance and ensuring its future success.