Health Environment Safety & Social Management in Enterprises
Graphic: Healthy environment copyright epaw.ltd

 

Step 6 Report the outcome

 

In step 6 you will:

  • Recognise the need for a public report
  • Identify main features of a HESSME report

Why

Publicise the improvements being made inside and outside the company. A HESSME should cover the company policy on each, use of resources, demonstrable improvements in business efficiency, and benefits to environmental impacts, all against previous and future targets. You will consider who will be given the key elements of the report and how that is communicated.

Increasingly other stakeholders want evidence of good environmental or health performance and there are several organisations looking to produce standards of good environmental reporting. There may be future legislation for EU countries for reporting environmental costs in companies' annual reports.

If you wish to join the EMAS scheme you will be required to produce a public statement. Making your plans and performance public helps demonstrate your commitment to improvement. Many will be very interested in the benefits achieved. It may come in useful at a future date when you are want some permission (for waste/discharges/planning) from your Local Authority.

A report helps benchmark performance in Health, Environment & Safety between different enterprises of the same industrial branch or located within the same community

How

Report on the outcome of your progress, whether or not you achieved the targets set.

A report should:

  • Describe HES in your business - current best practices
  • Reflect the principles outlined at the beginning
  • Explain why HES is important to your business - reflect relevant principles
  • Identify any changes which may have affected HES (You may have been affected by acquisitions or mergers or by part of a process being contracted out, become subject to new regulations/legs/, changed a process, diversified product range etc)
  • Outline what were the objectives, their targets and indicators
  • Describe performance against these targets. Praise achievements explain reasons for any deficits
  • Set out your good practice objectives and targets for continuing improvements

Should the report include Indicators? If so, see a good example of European Environment Agency report based on transport indicators .

You may find the following sources useful:

Guidelines on Environmental Reporting DEFRA UK .
Integrated HSE reporting from Solvay
.

OR enter your report
The Gallery of Awards for Environmental Reports

 

©World Health Organisation 2002
Authors: Dr Charlie Clutterbuck & Dr Bogdan Baranski