As we’ve made it halfway through 2019, it may be useful to check in on some of the major trends and insights occurring in the Environmental, Health and Safety sector. According to the National Safety Council, a worker is injured on the job every seven seconds. It isn’t just up to the workers and their managers to maintain a safe workplace culture. Business leaders and executives also hold the responsibility of keeping employees safe. With today’s high-quality EHS capabilities, organizations are more empowered than ever to create and maintain safe workplaces. Although EHS technologies have effectively mitigated many workplace injuries, we are far from an incident-free world.

To be the best at what we do, it’s important that we look at the industry as a whole, taking into account advancements in technologies and priorities. Here are some of the major EHS trends and insights of 2019 thus far:

Increased Spending on EHS

There are some areas of business that companies’ decision-makers are trying to cut back on. Others require extra attention and increased spending. This year, it seems that EHS has become a spending priority for business leaders looking to step up their compliance and productivity. According to Verdantix, a renowned research and consulting voice in the EHS market, worldwide spending on EHS solutions is projected to increase by 4% in 2019. Businesses that hadn’t yet jumped onboard the EHS software train seem to be doing so of late, and those that have already implemented these technologies into their solutions are upping their spend. Budget increases are put toward things like improved training, digital upgrades and updated personal protective equipment.

The Rise of Cross-functional Collaboration

One of the major issues facing EHS teams is the siloed way in which they report data and conduct their work. This two-dimensional approach presents a hindrance to performance improvement. Since EHS occurs in multiple disciplines of the business, it is crucial that organization leaders encourage their workers and managers to adopt EHS as an interconnected function across all areas of the business. It’s not just something those who work directly on the site have to deal with and manage. It’s the responsibility of every member of the workforce to be accountable for various EHS functions.