Improving environmental performance at work is not just a technical matter or organisational matter. It is also social. All changes at work benefit from active participation of everybody, managers and workers.

If a company is to adopt an environmentally aware approach, the employees are the key to that success. People are probably the greatest under-used resource in the environment However, there are few guidelines on doing something about involving all employees.

Employee participation in environmental protection means the involvement and empowerment of employees in helping management to reduce their company's impact on the environment. It is not telling employees what to do.

It is not just wishful thinking that involving people benefits the environment. Studies at Cornell University analysed the data from the 1991-1992 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) database in the US. The US Pollution Prevention Act 1990 requires that manufacturers report human resource management strategies related to reduction of waste at source as part of the TRI.