Stop EHS bashing!

This article denounces the vision of the EHS function as a constraint. It positions it as a lever for sustainable performance, profitability and corporate image.

Marie Faucon
EHS Consultant
Update : 
12.09.2025
Publication: 
10.01.2020
Contents
Example H2
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No, the EHS function is not a "necessary evil"! It is an important asset in any company's quest for sustainable performance, particularly in industry, and even more so since 2020.

EHS function not a "necessary evil

Read job offers for managers EHSmanager job advertisements, one sometimes wonders whether the function is properly understood in some companies. Here's the kind of job you'll find all too often:

  • "You will be responsible for processing and monitoring incidents and accidents.
  • "you will analyze regulatory discrepancies".
  • "you will ensure that the waste produced will be processed in approved channels".
  • "You will guarantee the application of EHS instructions,
  • "You will organize external follow-up audits", etc.

Isn't that a negative way of presenting their work?

Why don't companies offer them :

  • We want to "contribute to our company's performance by working to reduce incidents and accidents",
  • "To anticipate regulatory changes that could have an impact on our investment decisions,
  • We want to "actively participate in the profitability of our company by optimizing our waste management",
  • We're also committed to "developing our risk management and deploying our safety management approach", etc.?

Health, Hygiene and Environment Manager: a source of opportunities

Can you imagine a job advert for a marketing manager saying: "You will be responsible for handling and monitoring our brand image issues"? Of course, the answer is no. We'd rather talk to him about building or maintaining a positive brand image. And rightly so!

If many companies still do this when recruiting EHS managers, it's because they associate this function with the management of constraints rather than with a development opportunity. And that's where the problem lies, because :

  • in a context where everyone recognizes that well-being at work is a source of efficiency, risk prevention is a powerful means of boosting productivity,
  • energy and waste management has a direct impact on the company's income statement,
  • regulatory watch is essential to protect any investment,
  • Developing an image as a socially responsible and environmentally aware company contributes to the brand's success.

By dint of being perceived as a "necessary evil", EHS managers themselves are sometimes convinced that they are only there to manage problems.

As a result, it is difficult for these men and women to obtain the budgets they need to implement tools that will enable them to make a significant contribution to the company's added value. And when they do manage to convince their management to invest in a solution, it's often the cheapest one that is allocated to them, rather than the one that would enable them to maximize added value.

What a shame! Because by thinking in this way, companies miss out on great opportunities. By failing to place health, safety and environmental management at the heart of their objectives, they are failing to motivate and motivate their employees, and to deliver the results they might otherwise expect.

In conclusion, EHS Managers, be proud of your job and promote it positively! If you don't, others won't do it for you! Not yet, anyway...

An article written by Bernard Fort, Chairman and co-founder of Tennaxia