Environment, health and safety

From a safety standpoint, EHS involves creating organized efforts and procedures for identifying workplace hazards and reducing accidents and exposure to harmful situations and substances. It also includes training of personnel in accident prevention, accident response, emergency preparedness, and use of protective clothing and equipment.

From a health standpoint, EHS involves creating the development of safe, high-quality, and environmentally friendly processes, working practices and systemic activities that prevent or reduce the risk of harm to people in general, operators, or patients.

From an environmental standpoint, EHS involves creating a systematic approach to complying with environmental regulations, such as managing waste or air emissions all the way to helping site's reduce the carbon footprint.

The activities of an EHS working group might focus on:

• Exchange of know-how regarding health, safety and environmental aspects of a material
• Promotion of good working practices, such as post-use material collection for recycling

Regulatory requirements play an important role in EHS discipline and EHS managers must identify and understand relevant EHS regulations, the implications of which must be communicated to executive management so the company can implement suitable measures. Organizations based in the United States are subject to EHS regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations, particularly CFR 29, 40, and 49. Still, EHS management is not limited to legal compliance and companies should be encouraged to do more than is required by law, if appropriate.

Other names

Notwithstanding the individual importance of these attributes, the various institutions and authors have accented the acronyms differently. Successful HSE programs also include measures to address ergonomics, air quality, and other aspects of workplace safety that could affect the health and well-being of employees and the overall community. Another researcher transformed it as SHE in 1996, while exploring the "concept of 'human quality' in terms of living standards that must follow later than the health.....[as per the] paradigm of SHEQ, ....raising up the importance of environment to the 'safety of people as a prime consideration'". It is because "Safety First" is called in for the commitment to transform the safety culture of countries. Quality is "fitness for purpose", and without it, each and every endeavour will be futile.

Abbreviations used include: