Health Environment and Safety Management in Entreprises

Health Environment Safety & Social Management in Enterprises

Graphic: Healthy environment copyright epaw.ltd

Step 4 Set targets for improvement [1]

In step 4, you will:

Set Objectives
Find Indicators
Determine how to set HES targets

You need to consider your long-term goals or objectives in relation to improving health, environmental and safety. You are not going to achieve these objectives over night. They give an idea of what you can aim for. The targets spell out what is achievable and how long it will take.

Objectives

After discussing as widely as possible, you may wish to consider any of the following as possible long term objectives.

1. Promote physical activity; alcohol awareness or stress handling among staff, healthy diet and access to healthy food.
2. Provide information on relevant health and environmental issues on a regular basis by way of a 'HES information point' e.g. notice-board / leaflet rack.
3. Encourage all employees to have a health check that includes a review of lifestyle behaviour
4. Participate in a local or national health or environmental campaign e.g. World AIDS Day, National No Smoking Day,
5. Introduce working practices to improve the health and wellbeing of staff, e.g. flexible working hours, job rotation, equal opportunities, family-friendly policies.
6. Implement schemes or policies to support green transport initiatives e.g. walk-to-work day, car sharing, provision of cycle racks etc.
7. Set activities that promote health in each of the following: Smoking, Stress/mental health, Alcohol/drugs, Back pain, Physical activity
8. Provide access to occupational health services.
9. Reduce the amount of contaminants going to air, in particular those contaminants that can contribute to climate change or local air pollution standards.
10. Use rainwater to provide water. in butts and use for various processes, principally for washing of vehicles.

Make up objectives of your own to cover each of health, environment and safety concerns.

You may like to base your objectives on indicators such as those of UK's NHS Health Development Agency

Indicators

When you come to set targets it can be useful to have existing indicators to provide evidence of success.

ISO 14031 sets out three main sets of indicators:
Environment Condition Indicators (ECIs), Operation or Process Indicators (OPIs), and Management Performance Indicators (MPIs).

These can also be used for health and safety measures. Indicators for HES would include staff absentee rates (MPI) number of waste skips (OPI), accident statistics (OPI), local air and water conditions (ECIs).

There are environmental resource indicators related to environmental concerns for every nation state.

Municipal Authorities can help show support with indicators showing:

HES enforcement agencies, insurer associations, employers and employees
Local public health, environment and safety targets
Maintenance of work ability and employability
Infrastructure and human resources available for HESSME
Benchmarking between different communities
HES agreements between local authority and company
Involvement of concerned stakeholders

Governments adopting HESSME would need to provide indicators that measure performance, and success in order to determine future directions:

Annual national report on HES performance
Socio-economic analysis of HES investment revenues
Benchmark performance in HES in larger companies

If you can develop ways that combine the social (health), environmental and economic well being, they are also making a contribution to sustainable development.

Sustainable Development is, according the Brundtland Report, 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own needs'.