For many EHS professionals, chemical exposure is at the top of their list of things they worry about. And at the top of their “wish” list? Stronger support from their leadership team.

That’s what the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) in partnership with Enviance -- an industry-leading EH&S software provider – found when they queried safety professionals attending AIHce EXP 2017.

The first-ever "State of the EH&S Industry" found that:

  • Chemical exposure and chemical management combined to be the single largest concern (33.49%) among those who participated in the survey
  • Many of the challenges safety professionals face could be overcome (they believe) with stronger support from their leadership team (32.10%), and with better training/educational programs and more investment in technology to help detect, track and monitor risks (both tied with 21%). 
  • Over 33% of respondents indicated that the most frequent complaint they hear from employees about their organizations' EH&S programs is that they are understaffed. With only 33% of respondents indicating that they plan to expand the size of their EHS department, and 37% planning to hire a third-party consultant in the next 12 months, it would seem that this complaint might still be around for the foreseeable future.

The majority of this survey's respondents are experienced EHS professionals who represent small to mid-size companies in the professional, scientific, technical, or manufacturing industry. While many respondents (69.52%) work for companies with less than 100 employees, the majority of EHS professionals who completed this survey are accountable for a wide range of functions and responsibilities, regardless of company size. 

They like their jobs

Despite managing an array of tasks, the majority of EHS professionals who participated in the study are both satisfied or very satisfied (72.82%) and secure (59.27%) with their job despite the shifting socio-economic conditions of the past two years. In addition to being content, the vast majority of participants (94.3%) maintain some sort of membership or affiliation with a professional organization like the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) to maintain their certifications and have access to cutting-edge education, conferences and resources.  

"We must ensure we're providing workers with the tools they need to perform their jobs safely and effectively.  Upper management needs to commit more to worker health and safety as paramount to their company's bottom line profitability and sustainability," stated Lawrence Sloan, CAE, CEO of AIHA. "AIHA stands committed to helping forge a partnership with both industry management and organized labor to provide the tools and training needed to safeguard our nation's workers." 

"Understanding how and where we can help companies protect the health and safety of their employees is one of our company's top priorities," explained Amy Stelling, CEO of Enviance. "By partnering with the AIHA to conduct this survey, our goal is to provide EHS professionals the insight they need to take additional steps to improve their EHS program."

To download the full report, visit https://www.ehspoll.com/. For more information please contact Sue Marchese at smarchese@aiha.org.

About AIHA®

Founded in 1939, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is the premier association of occupational and environmental health and safety professionals. AIHA's 8,500 members play a crucial role on the front line of worker health and safety every day. Members represent a cross-section of industry, private business, labor, government and academia. More information is available at www.aiha.org. 

About Enviance®

Based in Carlsbad, California, Enviance is a leader in SaaS Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) software, leveraging cloud computing technology to deliver its platform online in real-time-anywhere, anytime and enterprise-wide. Deployed by some of the world's leading corporations and governments, the company's solutions enable organizations to better measure, manage and report mission-critical EH&S data. See why EH&S success starts with Enviance at enviance.com.