초록 |
Our nation has experienced remarkable growth over the half a century. Nonetheless, there is still much room for improvement in the area of Environment, Health and Safety (EHS). In particular, frequency and severity of industrial accidents did not considerably improve compared to the economic and social progress we made. The main objective of this research is to analyze what plans and actions are required for companies to promote industrial safety by 1) fostering functional competencies of EHS staffs and 2) effectively and proactively responding to rapidly changing EHS environment. For this research, EHS staffs from five large companies in Korea were surveyed. Most respondents indicated that one of key expertise required by EHS staffs is capabilities to effectively deal with changes to various domestic and international EHS-related laws and regulations. Furthermore, a predominant number of respondents commented that it is imperative for EHS staffs to have a broad knowledge of business management. As for internal issues that EHS staffs encounter within their organizations, many pointed out that their EHS vision is not sufficiently shared throughout the organization, and that the rules of leadership are critical in solving this issue. On the other hand, the survey respondents also raised an issue of limited EHS-related investments due to slow economy. As a solution, they proposed ways to align EHS organization's performance with the company's performance. Based on this survey, issues and solutions for EHS organizations were identified. Results of this research can benefit companies that plan to newly establish or further expand EHS organization. |