Integrating Safety Into Sustainability

In a recent interview with EnviroMentor, the Environmental Practice Specialty’s online technical publication, Tom Cecich, board chair for the Center for Safety & Health Sustainability, says, “The green movement has outstripped the role of workplace safety in sustainability, and this is not helped by the fact that we as SH&E professionals have not defined our role in sustainability.”

He believes worker safety and health needs to be elevated as a core aspect of what makes a “sustainable” organization, and to do that, the perception of safety needs to change. “You cannot have a viable or sustainable enterprise unless you properly account for the safety of workers, customers, neighboring communities and risks to people and property throughout an organization’s supply chain,” Cecich says.

How does your organization integrate SH&E best practices into sustainability and measure safety and health performance?