Workshop: Integrating EHS Management into Organizational Excellence
March 16, 2009 by Brian Butler , John Morelli , , and maitamim | Filed under: Integrating EHS Management into Organizational Excellence [4]
Organizations worldwide have improved process and operational efficiency through implementation of operational excellence and lean enterprise principles; however, while these strategies strive to eliminate “waste” in the organization, implementation generally is focused on manufacturing process efficiency, product quality, and cost reduction, and not on environmental inefficiencies. This workshop will explore whether the scope of operational excellence should be expanded to include EHS performance? If so, how could this be best accomplished?
Moderator: Lisa Greenwood
In modern corporations, sustainable development is an integral part of their EHS management systems. These management systems commit to the concept of sustainable development and underpin how environmental protection, safety and social wellbeing are promoted in these corporations. In order to drive effective implementation, strategic elements, initiatives, and goals have been set. These elements include profitability, customer satisfaction (internal and external), high standard safety, health, and environmental performance, efficient reliable operations, people, and processes. It is clearly defined that sustainable development is an important part of the operational excellence and also includes EHS performance as well.
In today’s organizations, Operational Excellence has become a method to establish a more sustainable operation focusing on lean principles, but to assume that Environmental and Social aspects are considered is most-likely difficult to examine from the outside.
A number of organizations use their environmental or social victories as a tool to improve stakeholder relations, as to be expected, but are they truly using these principles as an improved method to conduct business, or are they merely setting KPI’s to deliver improvements publishable in the annual corporate responsibility report?
When considering strong OE principles, you would imagine that both of these would eventually become a part of the overall strategy if not at the onset, at least once the initiative has a chance to mature. I would imagine a more developed OE program would begin to develop continuous improvement efforts that would migrate toward more intangible, or seemingly intangibles such as environmental or social improvements based on the broad focus of the effort.
Leading companies know that: “Business as usual” has changed. Investors and customers want
companies to address social and environmental concerns. Leading companies in the private sector recognize that they should develop strategies to meet these needs while remaining profitable.
Realizing the benefits of environment, health, and safety (EHS) management systems requires more than just rewriting policies and procedures, EHS tasks and activities must be pushed out into all aspects of the organization. The success of this process necessitates an evolving role for EHS managers. For EHS managers, business integration involves the challenge of integrating environment, health, and safety awareness, responsibility, and action into multiple jobs and business processes, leveraging scarce resources to maximize value and minimize costs.EHS managers has to plan and strategize the changing role of the EHS function. By assessing political opportunities, mobilizing structures, and framing processes, EHS managers can maximize the success of EHS programs, while adding value to companies’ core operations