Environment Health and Safety in a Lean Environment

Introduction

Effective environment health and safety (EH&S) practices in conjunction with sound Lean practices can help organizations gain a competitive advantage in the business in which they compete. Typical areas that comprise EH&S include industrial hygiene, radiation safety, occupational health, conventional safety, and environmental protection. As corporate leaders are pressured to continuously improve their operations and reduce cost, they are looking to implement practices across the organization that will aid in this initiative. Lean techniques coupled with a sound EH&S program is a combination that will yield enhanced value across the board. Many leaders are placing their focus on process improvement in areas such as technology and manufacturing. A key component of the process of reducing waste and adding value is being overlooked that can pay dividends in many areas for a company. That area is the EH&S function of the company.

In today's corporate environment, the focus on waste elimination is necessary to continue to improve and garner funds that can be reinvested into the company. Leaders are beginning to recognize that the EH&S functions is an untapped component that can significantly contribute to the bottom line. Minimizing waste through an effective health and safety (H&S) program coupled with Lean thinking and the use of Lean techniques can help a company to retain current market position and potentially gain new business.