The CONFORMiT Approach

CONFORMiT’s vision is “Building a more sustainable future with a Simple, Reliable and Profitable EHS SaaS Solution”. This statement is more than a tagline, it’s driving us in each of our actions. Environmental sustainability is a CONFORMiT core value. But what does it mean exactly?

Definitions 

Let’s start with definitions and acronym explanations. Our mission and operations overlap three main categories. Those definitions are commonly accepted:  

• Environmental health and safety (EHS or HSE) is the department in a company or an organization tasked with ensuring that the work undertaken by the company does not cause undue environmental damage, put the workers’ health and safety at high risk, complies with applicable legislation, and follows best practices (source: Safeopedia).
• Environmental, social and governance (ESG) refers to a collection of corporate performance evaluation criteria that assess the robustness of a company’s governance mechanisms and its ability to effectively manage its environmental and social impacts. Examples of ESG data include the quantification of a company’s carbon emissions, water consumption or customer privacy breaches (source: Gartner Group)
• Sustainable development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (source: UNESCO)

However, it remains a bit theoretical. Some illustrations are required to decipher those concepts in the day-to-day operations of corporations. 

How is EHS software involved in ESG development? 

EHS and ESG are interrelated by reading definitions, except ESG seem to apply at higher levels in organizations. Nevertheless, EHS stakeholders are more involved in ESG operations at the field level and, therefore, in sustainable development due to data collected and emerging sustainable processes.

First of all, mid-size or large corporations comply more and more to international standards, such as ones issued by OSHA (example: occupational safety and health), ISO 14001 (environmental management) or ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety), NEBOSH (National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health providing health, safety and environmental qualifications) in Great Britain, or WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) in Canada among others.

Complete explanations of those standard compliances and their ins and outs could be appropriate topics for other blog posts! In a nutshell, they aim to provide best practices and monitoring in environmental management and a strong safety process management. EHS solutions via software and applications feed the required ESG reporting, and answer the question: “Are we compliant or not?” 

As we understand, it’s all about data collection, procedures, and ultimately environmental and social KPIs (key performance indicators). All that can impact environmental sustainability must be tracked and measured. For instance, consider using chemical products in Pulp & Paper Industry or fresh water for cooling processes throughout manufacturing operations. For every environmental impact, a social or political crisis could be related. No company wants to be on the front page for an ecological disaster or major pollution! Once again, EHS software help by defining safeguards for standardized safety procedures, protecting workers, workplace and equipment, corporate operations and reputation, and the environment at the end of the day. 

The governance part is tied up with reporting capabilities at C-Level. Governmental bodies or investors request specific reports in various domains, especially regarding environmental impact or GHG (green-house gases) emissions, waste management materials, or financial data. KPIs are also paramount for the “health” part, including worker safety and wellness, mental health, and training. Those data sets are collected through mobile or desktop EHS applications during daily operations. 

The CONFORMiT’s approach 

CONFORMiT blends and ties up EHS / ESG / Sustainable development on mainly two aspects. Firstly, the technological and software solutions are divided into categories of collecting and leveraging data strategically in middle and high-risk industries: Risk Analysis, Audit and Inspection,  Lockout Tagout (LOTO), Permit-to-Work and EHS Incident Management. These modules fuel ESG reporting and have a tangible impact on worker safety and companies. Our applications are saving lives, for real. We provide all required environmental, health and safety performance indicators in the organization and dashboards to help C-Level management deal with ESG issues, past and future. From a technical point of view, we have moved to an EHS SaaS (software as a service) solution for both business and energy consumption reasons. 

As a synthesis and through these examples of the CONFORMiT commitment in the community and sustainability, 5 key objectives were defined and applied across the company:  

• Reduce the environmental impact of our activities 
• Foster partners and employees to adopt a more sustainable behaviour, including a program of environmental skills development. 
• Ensure the corporate economic success and contribute to that of its members, including an equitable distribution of the created wealth 
• Ensure its employee’s health and wellness as well as that of its community 
• Foster innovation, knowledge creation and continuous improvement of its practices 

Building a more sustainable future? You bet! This commitment is engraved in our environmental health and safety software and organization.  

Eric Desbiens, CEO of CONFORMiT