For many employees across different fields, those three letters, OHS, still provoke negative emotions. They are associated with a grumpy older gentleman or lady, with inspections, bans and orders, with a person whose only job seems to be endlessly reminding employees about personal protective equipment. Only... a person's safety does not end with a helmet and glasses.

The EHSS model: a new look at safety at work

It seems that a certain mental shift is needed. A good direction may be the EHSS model (Environment, Health, Safety & Security), which takes a broader view of the safety of the organisation and of the person.

The split into Safety and Security is worth noting. With Safety we mean OHS in the sense we have typically understood it so far: protection against accidents and against physical, chemical, mechanical or electrical hazards. Alongside it, however, there is Security, that is, the broadly understood security of the organisation and its people, including, for example, crisis management.

The next element is Health. Occupational hygiene has always been meant to protect people from harmful factors in the working environment and from occupational diseases. But today's employee also contends with stress, overload, professional burnout, musculoskeletal problems and the effects of shift work. In my opinion a good OHS professional should have something of a doctor and a therapist in them. That bit of versatility will let them understand their employees, and notice that mental and physical safety are not detached from each other.

Environment broadens the perspective of safety. An organisation's responsibility does not end with people but also covers the environment the company uses and affects. It should be remembered here that in many cases we are talking about protecting the environment in which the employees themselves live.

The OHS of the future: from tracking down deviations to shaping attitudes

At trade fairs and industry meetings people often talk about the OHS of the future. As a rule this means implementing IT and robotics solutions. Perhaps, however, it is worth making room in this vision for changes to the OHS function itself, and in particular for a shift from tracking down deviations to shaping lasting attitudes in employees.

The OHS professional of the future should not be a policeman who walks around a construction site only to force-find an employee who is not following the rules. Of course, sometimes you have to say “put your helmet on.” Yet everyone in the industry has surely dreamed of a team so well trained that an OHS professional's intervention is rare.

The OHS professional of the future: competences and role in the organisation

The OHS professional of the future will have to understand not only regulations and ergonomics but also work psychology, organisational culture, data analysis and the impact of new technologies on people. They should be able to analyse not only the number of accidents but also near misses, absence, recurring non-conformities and employee behaviour.

Establishing responsibility for a deviation or an event is of course a basic element of the OHS function, but I am of the opinion that OHS professionals' attention should focus rather on action: identifying problems and fixing shortcomings, that is, actively preventing accidents. Let us show that our trade is more than looking for an opportunity to find fault. OHS is brain work.