Is Your EHS Culture Too Dependent on the EHS Team?

Here’s a simple test of your EHS culture:

If EHS personnel stopped prompting people tomorrow, would the right things still happen?

Would supervisors identify hazards, keep risk assessments current, close corrective actions, complete inspections, and coach their teams on safety?

If not, the site relies too heavily on the EHS team. That’s a problem.

Think about Quality.

A Quality department can provide standards, expertise, auditing, and oversight. But quality has to be built into the work by the people performing and leading it.

EHS should work the same way.

The people closest to the work know the equipment, processes, and day-to-day risks better than anyone. As the culture matures, managers, supervisors, and employees increasingly recognize risks, take action, and remain accountable for the outcome.

The EHS function remains critical, providing expertise, coaching, governance, verification, and specialized technical support.

As you start building stronger ownership, a useful question is: Who owns this activity today, and who should own it as the organization gets stronger?

The answer quickly shows where EHS is embedded in the business and where the site still depends too heavily on the EHS team.

If you need help making that happen...I know a guy!