The Curious Attraction of Safety & Sustainability

Have you noticed the real step-change in how we view environmental issues? Ten years ago, these were the preserve of governments and scientists. Now, these issues, along with health and safety of workers and communities, are primary concerns across all generations. Younger generations may be at the forefront of protests, and they're certainly the ones making headlines around the world. However, don’t doubt that everyone is worried.

It's become clear that governments can only do so much. Even with the best will in the world, laws and regulations can only take things so far. And in many parts of the world, you might argue that ‘so far’ is not actually very far at all. The question now is how companies can step up their game and take responsibility for helping to make this world a better place.

Brand reputation, social and corporate governance are emerging as key concerns in boards around the globe—and rightfully so. People are becoming more and more conscious of what they consume, including how it's grown, prepared, made, transported and sold. Citizens are increasingly influencing the political agenda, which in turn is shaping laws and regulations that will affect companies and business. 

Looking back to shape the future

A report from Enhesa gave me my first ‘aha’ moment on this topic. First, it showed me the sheer complexity of the regulatory landscape. Enhesa’s experts identified over 96.000 new or changed regulatory requirements around the world in the course of the year, including more than 50.000 in North America alone. However, the visual presentation of the report also highlights how the right analysis can help to simplify the issues and enable companies to focus on the most important aspects.

In a section on cutting through the regulatory fog, the report suggests three key areas of focus for companies in 2020, and explains why they're important. These areas are:

• Air, climate and energy regulations. Air quality, and therefore emissions, is top of the agenda in many parts of the world. In 2021, Enhesa experts tracked more than 50.000 regulations covering this area across the globe. A massive 87% of these had been introduced since January 2020, showing the speed at which this issue has become prominent.
• Regulatory change. This is in the air around the world. There have been huge changes through overhauls of regulatory regimes in places as far apart as the US, Russia and India, and these will have a massive impact on local, national and international companies. International companies in particular need to check for any ripple effects across borders.
• Changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic introduced some radical new areas of workplace environmental safety and brought plenty of headaches for health and safety officers. There were the obvious challenges of ensuring that workplaces don't act as infection hubs, such as improving ventilation, enabling social distancing, and managing PPE waste. However, there were also less expected considerations, such as supporting the mental and physical health of people working from home. These challenges are likely to be with us for some time yet, with more to come as rapid changes in response to new viral variants or local restrictions.

An invitation to learn more

On the face of it, the world of environmental, health and safety (EHS) isn't the most obvious place to find either a jazz DJ or a former employee of a global analytics powerhouse. But here I am. After more than 13 beautiful years at SAS, I’m excited to have joined Enhesa as the Global Head of Marketing back in September.

In doing so, I've moved into a radically different space. This is a world of laws, of managing compliance with different regulatory regimes from around the world.  It's tightly controlled, and often seen from the outside as rigid and inflexible. This is partly because of the reputation of compliance. Traditionally, we've often seen this as a chore, something that has to be done, to tick the boxes. However, I think this is the wrong way to look at this new world of mine.

Instead, I can see that Enhesa's main purpose - and indeed that of EHS regulations in general - is to make the world a safer and sustainable place.

I'm looking forward to discovering more about this fascinating world and communicating what it means to be compliant with confidence and conviction. I hope that you’ll join me on this journey.