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... an increasingly strong resonance between QHSE and CSR. With the recent evolution of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards and the upcoming ISO 45001, certified companies must now understand the issues at stake and anticipate the needs and expectations of interested parties. This requirement points to the consideration of stakeholders, a fundamental practice of ISO 26000 and a guiding principle for many international CSR frameworks.
From interested parties to stakeholders
Referring to the definition of interested parties provided by the aforementioned ISO standards, they are defined as a "person or organization that can either affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision or activity." Examples cited include customers, communities, suppliers, regulators, non-governmental organizations, investors, and employees.
ISO 14001 specifies that "perceive itself to be affected" means that the viewpoint has been brought to the organization's attention. Consequently, materiality analysis is highly recommended by many frameworks as a foundation for more relevant CSR initiatives that are better integrated into corporate strategies and business models. Indeed, with this clarification, companies are not only invited to identify their interested parties but must also engage with them to understand their perspectives.
It is therefore not enough to "simply" identify expectations and needs in good faith; one must consult stakeholders and be able to demonstrate that this "mirror" identification has been carried out, just as actions must have been initiated to address them and commit to a process of continuous improvement.
While ISO 26000 provides a definition of stakeholders that is, all in all, quite vague—" stakeholders are individuals or groups who have an interest in any decision or activity of an organization"—it specifies within the characteristics of social responsibility that "The role of stakeholders in social responsibility, the identification of stakeholders and the dialogue with them are fundamental to social responsibility. It is recommended that the organization determine who has an interest in its decisions and activities so that it can understand the impacts it exerts and identify how to address them."
The publication by Comité 21 on January 13, 2015, of the "Guiding Principles for Constructive Dialogue with Stakeholders" highlights the growing importance placed on dialogue with them, both to inform corporate decision-making and—let us not underestimate this—to preserve and enhance the company's reputation. The third principle is titled "Commit to choosing relevant stakeholders and issues." It stipulates that while it is appropriate to "identify relevant stakeholders," it is also necessary to "bring out a diversity of issues that are significant for both the stakeholders and the initiator of the dialogue. This point is based on the notion of materiality, or the relevance of issues, which integrates the organization's priorities and the expectations of stakeholders."
Towards an integrated approach?
The emergence of the need to consider interested parties, and therefore stakeholders, raises the question of the methodology to adopt. Indeed, some companies that had embarked on identifying or even mapping their stakeholders at the group level are now faced with the need to do so at the site level, depending on the management systems in place.
Consequently, the deployment of integrated approaches is taking shape, aiming to identify interested parties at each site in order to respond consistently to ISO 9001, 14001, and 45001 standards.
One may also legitimately ask about the complementarity to be organized between corporate approaches and the identifications made at certified sites. Thus, companies that have conducted materiality analyses at the group level, including questioning group stakeholders, could find significant value in this identification of local stakeholders to complete their framework, while naturally avoiding unnecessary complexity.
In conclusion
With this identification of interested parties and their needs and expectations, HSE managers will contribute even more to the deployment of CSR initiatives and corporate non-financial reporting. The decisions made in the context of COP 21, with low-carbon strategies that are set to be structured, managed, and published, should also amplify this resonance with CSR managers. We can already see in the first 2015 CSR reports the prominence given to energy audits and the census of ISO 50001 certifications. Environmental performance, like the efficient consideration of stakeholders, will undoubtedly be two elements to reckon with in the coming months when evaluating overall corporate performance. Stay tuned!
Photo credit: Trude Jonsson Stangel