Lessons in safety - December 21

HSE PROFESSIONALS have a diverse range of responsibilities and, all too often, ‘E’ is seen as an add-on but as Caroline poses: “If we don’t have a planet that can sustain life, then what is the point of health and safety?”

It will take a team effort to protect our planet. We have a responsibility to ourselves, to our children and to wildlife to stop the damage that is being done and reverse the negative impact mankind has had. 

Business is a key contributor to climate change – it needs to step up and give as much emphasis and resource to environmental management as it does to profits. For HSE professionals, we can prove the worth of environmental management to decision makers and justify the resources and investment we need to support it; it’s a fact that controlling environmental aspects can save lives (and money!). Here are just a couple of stats to get you started: 

• The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2020 warned that air pollution is already costing more than $5 trillion in decreased productivity every year. 

• The World Health Organization (WHO) also estimates that more than half a million people die in Europe every year from medical conditions caused by air pollution.

Where to start

Start small. It’s easy to start off with big intentions but get overwhelmed or lose enthusiasm. If you start small, then it’s easier to manage and you can build momentum as you reach milestones. Here at NEBOSH, we began by collecting data. It gave us a starting point and gave us factual information so that we would focus on activities that would have the greatest impact. We also used the BS 8555 standard which was great as it offered us a staged, step-by-step approach to environmental management and supported progression to ISO 14001. 

NEBOSH has technical expertise already in-house, but we know that not every business is as lucky. It can be particularly challenging for smaller businesses where budgets might not stretch to a dedicated environmental advisor or external consultant. Suzanna has been supported to achieve the NEBOSH Certificate in Environmental Management and Caroline to achieve the NEOSH Diploma in Environmental Management, in addition to their normal role. These are both great qualifications for upskilling existing employees or, for larger organisations, our Environmental Awareness at Work is a much shorter, introductory qualification that can help spread awareness and understanding (a requirement of ISO 14001) amongst all employees. 

Engaging with local programmes can also expand your networks and open you up to ideas sharing opportunities. Aimee recently led an initiative which saw NEBOSH sign up to a programme called Zellar, a sustainability platform aimed specifically at SMEs. The platform offers a range of tools with the aim of helping these businesses to create a sustainable business strategy, reduce their emissions and reach Net Zero by 2030. 

Engaging your employees

Getting support and buy-in for what we were trying to do was so important. We assembled the ‘Green Team’ which is full of engaging and passionate people – we help to spread the word and support colleague engagement. Within the Green Team we have a member of our Senior Leadership Team who ensures we have a voice at Board level and NEBOSH has given us its full support – we’re given time away from our ‘day jobs’ to fulfil our environmental activities. 

When it comes to engaging employees, we’ve found a couple of approaches to be really successful. The first is in-person experiences, for example we organised a river litter pick. Whilst this one wasn’t a business-based activity, it did bring people together on an environmental issue – it tapped into the social and emotional side of things and encouraged our colleagues to have conversations about environmental matters. 

The second is to make communications relatable, easy to understand and fun. A few years ago, we held a Halloween themed drop-in event where we shared some ‘terrifying’ statistics. These included the number of plastic cups people were using; we illustrated the use in terms of the distance the cups would reach if laid end-to-end. The outcome of the event was that everyone was given a recycled glass and the plastic cups were removed. 

The efforts of the Green Team to engage our colleagues has not gone unnoticed. In our most recent audit, the auditor interviewed five employees and remarked on the commitment and enthusiasm they showed. If we can do it, you can too! Good luck on your own environmental journey – success can be the only option for all of us. 

Caroline Copson is product development manager, Aimee Garner is project manager and Suzanna McIntosh is product developer at NEBOSH. For more information, visit www.nebosh.org.uk