At the NAEM Forum, in a session called “The EHS Manager as a Change Agent,” Don Ritz and Bruce Huber of Barrick Gold argued that EHS professionals can and must view themselves as change agents in organizations, and presented a process similar to the Seven Steps of EHS Integration developed by Redinger EHS.
This process shifts the EHS mindset toward one that is generative and based in vision and alignment, as opposed to a mindset that is reactive and based in compliance. Some of the change agent characteristics that Ritz and Huber identified were: persistence, courage, passion, commitment, ability to leverage, and integrity. Read More
With issues like global warming, sustainability, small industrial footprint, industrial ecology, and carbon calculus swirling in the press and the minds of many, there is increased attention on how organizations do or don’t incorporate environmental thinking into their business strategy. There have been numerous articles in the Harvard Business Review (most recently a special report titled “Climate Business-Business Climate”) and other business journals. The Wall Street Journal has been sponsoring a prominent conference titled, “ECO:NOMICS, Creating Environmental Capital.”
Many indicators point to a shift in EHS drivers and thinking. Redinger EHS outlines a few below.
Make no mistake about it: We are not in Kansas any more. While the last year has witnessed the decimation of corporate EHS groups in major multinational companies, as well as layoffs and re-assignments, other EHS departments have been unaffected, or in some instances, grown.