EHS RISK AND COMPLIANCE IN THE NEXT NORMAL
R&C: Could you provide an overview of the additional risks the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is posing to environmental, health and safety (EHS) compliance?
Adeline: While the very nature of the EHS function is to identify and understand risks that your diverse workforce may face, and to be prepared to support the needs of a safe and healthy work environment, the pandemic has redefined what readiness and operational resilience means for organisations. We all have faced the unknowns about COVID-19 – how to protect workers and prevent spread, from the physical workspaces that people touch to the concerns involved in person-to-person interactions that we now have come to understand are more important. Work practices and the composition of the workforce have also changed, in addition to managing a remote workforce. Workers may have been furloughed or not working due to facility closures. This changes familiarity with the workplace and work tasks and introduces risks. The workplace may have been redefined and new procedures introduced, so changes must be effectively managed to reduce risks. Companies may have less resources, support and supervision. Meanwhile, with so many companies struggling to remain viable, supply chains are being impacted. This introduces additional risks. Companies need to ensure employees and contractor employees are fit to work, aware of new risks, trained or retrained and competent to do a task. Companies still have a duty of care for workers working from home and need to also ensure their health and safety. So, in a way, managing EHS risks is now more complex with the redefinition of the workplace. And while COVID-19 is a physical illness, it has increased psychological injury and illnesses.
Oct-Dec 2020 Issue
SAI Global