EHS refers to the environmental, health, and safety aspects of a company’s day-to-day work. These are the top priorities for functioning occupational safety and form the basis for successful companies. Our article explains what the EHS abbreviation stands for and which areas it includes.

All three EHS areas are subject to a multitude of legal guidelines and changing requirements. This is where occupational health and safety software can help facilitate EHS management. You can find detailed information on how to use such software in our free ebook “HSQE Management”. Enjoy reading!

An external occupational safety specialist uses iManSys contentedly on a tablet at the client's site in the warehouse.

What does the abbreviation EHS stand for?

EHS is composed of the terms Environment, Health and Safety. This refers to the three areas of environment, health and safety within a company. Accordingly, EHS compliance refers to all laws, rules, guidelines, specifications, processes, activities and strategies that help to protect the company, employees and the environment. Suitable measures should prevent and reduce injuries, illnesses, accidents or contamination in the workplace and the workplace environment.

The three aspects of EHS

The initial letters of the abbreviation can also be used in reverse order. Thus, in addition to EHS, the following terms are also common:

  • HSE – Health, Safety & Environment
  • HSSE – Health, Safety, Security & Environment
  • SHE – Safety, Health & Environment

EHS also helps a company advocate for society and the environment and support sustainable development. To achieve this, health, environmental, and occupational safety issues must be considered throughout the company’s entire production process. Therefore, they permeate the value chain from the procurement of raw materials to the delivery of the final product to the customer.

Since the scope of legal requirements is extensive, a suitable management system for EHS is recommended – not only for industrial companies. Such a system includes all steps of the company’s environmental protection, health, and occupational safety processes, from planning, implementation, and control to optimization. This includes aspects such as risk analysis in the workplace, training employees on accident prevention, noise and fire protection options and environmental protection measures.

These include excerpts from laws and regulations in the following areas:

  • OSH
  • Occupational safety
  • Chemicals
  • Product safety
  • Hazardous substances
  • Professional association regulations, rules & information
  • Occupational medicine
  • Environmental protection

Functionalities of the individual areas

The EHS environment sector focuses on the sustainability of internal environmental policy. The basis for environmental management is mainly the ISO 14001 standard. It is a global standard and ensures that companies optimize their environmental performance, meet legal and mandatory requirements and implement goals for the purpose of sustainability.

Typical environmental measures include (excerpt):

  • Energy management and consumption
  • Control and reduction of air emissions
  • Purchase and lifespan of products
  • Economical use of water
  • Waste management, waste reduction and disposal routes
  • Use of chemicals

The starting point for the health sector is the following: According to the Labour Protection Act, health protectionof all employees – just like occupational safety – is one of the employer’s obligations. The aim is primarily to prevent occupational diseases and health problems that can arise due to work. Therefore, the international standard ISO 45001 on “Management systems for safety and health at work” contains regulations to prevent accidents, injuries, and illnesses among employees.

Of course, the health of employees is closely linked to their safety. However, the health aspect of EHS is more focused on prevention of long-term physical or mental risks, whereas occupational safety is more concerned with preventing immediate harmful consequences for health.

Health within EHS management includes aspects such as:

  • Medical check-ups
  • Investigation of accidents and work-related illnesses
  • Examination of working substances, working times and materials and their effects on mental or physical health
  • Measures for noise and hearing protection
  • Industrial hygiene
  • First aid

The ISO 45001 standard also applies to the EHS safety area, aiming to ensure the safety of all employees, the workplace and work materials. In short, successful occupational health and safety should be present in all company areas.

Safety-related EHS management therefore includes measures such as:

  • Occupational safety instructions
  • Hazard assessments, with the analysis of physical impacts and psychological factors, hazardous substances register, etc.
  • Operating instructions
  • Plant safety
  • Personal protective equipment
  • Advice from safety officers and occupational safety specialists

These functionalities show that all three EHS areas are interrelated. For example, using a hazardous substances register for harmful chemicals in the context of occupational safety naturally also positively impacts the health of employees and the environment. In essence, all aspects of EHS management aim to prevent and avert legal, social, and economic risks.

EHS becomes HSQE

The successful application of all EHS components contributes to the health and motivation of all employees and shows that the company is taking on social responsibility. Environmental protection, health management and occupational safety are a prerequisite for the optimal success of a company and should therefore be an integral part of every corporate culture.

However, it should not be forgotten that in addition to EHS, quality management also plays a vital role in the company’s evaluation and continuous improvement of necessary work processes. All components then result in a comprehensive HSQE management system.

Quality management means meeting existing requirements for a company’s products, services and workflows, optimizing relevant processes and complying with customer requirements. The international ISO standards 9000 and 9001 are particularly important for this. ISO 9000 contains fundamental principles and terms of a quality management system and thus forms the prerequisite for ISO 9001, which prescribes minimum requirements for quality management systems.

Components of quality management include (excerpt):

  • Checking whether policies and regulations are effective and appropriate
  • Standardization and control of defined product characteristics (product audit)
  • Standardization and assessment of work processes, activities and areas (process audit)
  • Evaluation of supplier quality and documentation of supply chains (system audit)
  • Evaluation of progress in quality assurance
  • Measures to increase customer satisfaction and employee motivation

Simultaneous compliance with all regulations and their constant changes can quickly lead to errors, gaps or a lack of transparency in everyday work – with catastrophic consequences for occupational safety. Automated, digital HSQE management systems such as the iManSys software solution help to centrally bundle all requirements and keep them up to date at all times. In addition to reducing risks, this enables uncomplicated planning of measures for all of the mentioned components.

You can read more about the benefits of occupational safety software in our associated ebook. Enjoy reading!

An external occupational safety specialist uses iManSys contentedly on a tablet at the client's site in the warehouse.

Share this post:

More blog posts

A man in work clothes and a hard hat conducts a risk assessment on a tablet.

Did You Know Nr.1

Let’s be honest: We in the content team don’t always know what our colleagues in software development are currently working on. We eventually get to see the results and are […]

A person in laboratory clothing mixes chemicals

Creating a hazardous substances register

The Ordinance on Hazardous Substances requires every employer to keep a register of all hazardous substances existing in the company. This register provides information not only about a substance, its […]

A man in hygienic protective clothing monitors the production of sausages

Food safety

Food sold in the EU is subject to high quality and safety requirements. A control system that the responsible food companies set up based on the HACCP principles helps with […]