Understanding the return on health, safety and environmental investments

INTRODUCTION: Traditionally, health safety and environmental (HS & E) investments have been viewed as expensive but necessary. HS & E professionals had a difficult task of providing data showing that these investments can also contribute to business success. An ORC task force developed a way for traditional financial analysis methods to be applied to HS & E investments and decisions. METHOD: The result of the task force effort is the software called the ORC Return on Health, Safety and Environmental Investments (ROHSEI), a supporting tool to provide a comprehensive look at health, safety or environmental investment projects and their potential financial impacts. RESULTS: Since its development, more than 200 companies, government agencies, and educational institutions have been trained in the ROHSEI process and software. CONCLUSIONS: HS & E professionals who are able to evaluate and communicate the business value of health, safety and environmental efforts will improve understanding of the impacts HS & E projects and contribute to better decision making by their organizations.