How To Demonstrate The Business Value Of Industrial Hygiene Data Management

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Industrial Hygiene (IH) is one of the least mentioned yet one of the most valuable Occupational Health and Safety sciences that organizations can practice to protect workers’ health.

However, the business value of IH Programs can only be truly perceived and communicated to business leaders when effective data management of health hazard exposure and occupational disease risk is performed.

Demonstrating the business value of IH programs to the C-Suite requires Industrial Hygienists or EHS professionals to understand the IH Hazards associated with organizational processes, how they are impacting – or can impact – business objectives, and how they affect the bottom line.

The American Industrial Hygiene Association recommends the following strategy to demonstrate the business value of Industrial Hygiene programs and activities in a way that resonates with business leaders:

Identify IH Hazards: Develop a clear understanding of the hazards associated with the organization’s work processes, as well as the organization’s key business objectives.
Conduct Risk Assessment: Determine the potential of identified hazards to impact business objectives and the bottom line.
Align Value Opportunities: Prioritize value opportunities and align them with the key business objectives (e.g. cost reduction, brand protection, etc.) identified in step 1.
Identify Impact Areas: Identify proposed changes, metrics for evaluation (e.g. health status, cost, etc.) and the projected risk reduction impact of implementing IH activity.
Measure Impact: Assess the impacts associated with the implementation of the IH program or activity (e.g. cost savings, improved health status, etc.)
Determine Value: Determine the overall value of the IH program, activity, or intervention.
Present Value Proposition: Summarize findings, describing the overall value of the IH program or activity.

In order to effectively and efficiently execute this process, a systematic, centralized and comprehensive approach to data collection, analysis, and reporting is key. The conventional management of Industrial Hygiene exposure data has relied on tools (ex; spreadsheets) that are rather impractical and inefficient in supporting a thorough analysis of multiple factors that affect or could potentially affect employees’ health.

That’s why Industrial Hygienists and EHS professionals are leveraging the power of IH software to systematically and simplistically document, visualize and analyze years’ worth of data with just a few clicks.

Moreover, the complexity of occupational exposure data is nullified when advanced Industrial Hygiene software solutions provide reports that give meaningful insight on what is occurring within the organization. Insight that better positions EHS and Industrial Hygiene professionals to inform their programs’ decisions and effectively control their health and safety risks, which is critical to demonstrating the business value of Industrial Hygiene Management to the C-Suite.

Click here to learn more about ProcessMAP’s IH Management software, its proprietary out-of-the box reports, and integrated Business Intelligence tools.