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Environment (E), health (H) and safety (S), EHS is an acronym for the set that studies and implements the practical aspects of protecting the environment and maintaining health and safety at occupation. In simple terms it is what organizations must do to make sure that their activities do not cause harm to anyone. Commonly, ''quality'' -
quality assurance Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to ensure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...
and
quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach places ...
- is adjoined to form the company division known as ''HSQE''. From a safety standpoint, it 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. Better health at its heart, should have 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, it 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 company's
carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...
. 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 In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the United States. ...
, 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 Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
, 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..... s per theparadigm of SHEQ, ....raising up the importance of environment up 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 which each and every endeavour will be futile. Other abbreviations than HSE, SHE, HSQE are also used:


Regulatory agencies


United Kingdom

* The
Health and Safety Executive The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in Great Britain. It is a non-depar ...
* The
Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
* Local authorities


United States

* Federal / international ** Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ** Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ** Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) ** Mining Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), etc. ** European Union (EU standards) – Health and Safety At Work Act **Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) * State ** Safety and Health Council of North Carolina, Massachusetts Nuclear Regulatory Commission, etc. * Local ** Municipal fire departments (building code inspections) **Environmental Management Agency (EMA)


General categories

EHS guidelines cover categories specific to each industry as well as those that are general to most industry sectors. Examples of general categories and subcategories are:


Specific categories


History

The
chemical industry The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. The ...
introduced the first forma
EHS management
approach in 1985 as a reaction to several catastrophic accidents (like the
Seveso disaster Seveso (; lmo, label= Lombard, Séves ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Monza and Brianza, in the Region of Lombardy. The economy of the town has traditionally been based on the furniture industry. Its name comes from the river of ...
of July 1976 and the
Bhopal disaster The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a chemical accident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Considered the world's wo ...
of December 1984). This worldwide voluntary initiative, called "
Responsible Care Started in Canada in 1985, Responsible Care is a global, voluntary initiative developed autonomously by the chemical industry for the chemical industry. It runs in 67 countries whose combined chemical industries account for nearly 90% of global che ...
", started by the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (formerly the Canadian Chemical Producers' Association - CCPA), operates in about 50 countries, with central coordination provided by the
International Council of Chemical Associations The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) is the trade association of the global chemical industry. Its members are both regional trade associations like Cefic or the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association, and also national ...
(ICCA). It involves eight fundamental features which ensure plant and product safety, occupational health and environmental protection, but which also try to demonstrate by
image-building Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
campaigns that the chemical industry acts in a responsible manner. Being an initiative of the ICCA, it is restricted to the chemical industry. Since the 1990s, general approaches to EHS management that may fit any type of organisation have appeared in international standards such as: The Valdez Principles, that have been formulated to guide and evaluate corporate conduct towards the environment. * the
Eco-Management and Audit Scheme The Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is a voluntary environmental management instrument, which was developed in 1993 by the European Commission. It enables organizations to assess, manage and continuously improve their environmental perform ...
(EMAS), developed by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
in 1993 * ISO 14001 for environmental management in 1996 *
ISO 45001 ISO 45001 is an ISO standard for management systems of occupational health and safety (OHS), published in March 2018. The goal of ISO 45001 is the reduction of occupational injuries and diseases, including promoting and protecting physical and ...
for occupational health and safety management in 2018, preceded by OHSAS 18001 1999 In 1998 the
International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries. The IFC is a member of t ...
established EHS guidelines.


Example

As a typical example, the activities of a health, safety and environment (HSE) 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


Publications

*
Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agenc ...
(United States) *
American Society of Safety Engineers American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), formerly known as American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) until June 2018, is a global organization of more than 37,000 occupational safety and health (OSH) professional members who manage, ...
*
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) is an independent departmental corporation under Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act and is accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Labour. CCOHS functions as the ...
(CCOHS) * ''
EHS Today ''EHS Today'' is an American occupational safety and health magazine. Published monthly by Endeavor Business Media, it is the leading US magazine for environmental, health and safety management professionals in the manufacturing, construction, a ...
'' * ''Safety+Health Magazine'' –
National Safety Council The National Safety Council (NSC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, public service organization promoting health and safety in the United States. Headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, NSC is a member organization, founded in 1913 and granted a congressi ...
* ''Environmental Leader'' *
EU-OSHA The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) is a decentralised agency of the European Union with the task of collecting, analysing and disseminating relevant information that can serve the needs of people involved in safety and h ...
* ''ISHN'' *
NIOSH The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, ) is the United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the C ...
* OHS


See also

*
Occupational safety and health Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wor ...
*
National Safety Council The National Safety Council (NSC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, public service organization promoting health and safety in the United States. Headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, NSC is a member organization, founded in 1913 and granted a congressi ...
* Robert W. Campbell Award, an Award for Business Excellence through EHS Management. *
Safety engineering Safety engineering is an engineering discipline which assures that engineered systems provide acceptable levels of safety. It is strongly related to industrial engineering/systems engineering, and the subset system safety engineering. Safety en ...


References

{{Reflist


External links


NAEM, the premier Association for EHS Management: What is EHS?International Finance Corporation: World Bank Group Environmental, Health, and Safety GuidelinesInternational Network for Environmental Management
Occupational safety and health