Back in the Stone Age, when I first began writing about workplace safety and health for ISHN, I almost immediately came across the admonishment that safety and health professionals must “talk management’s language” if they want to get anywhere. Over the decades that counsel took on various definitions. Make the business case for safety. Align with corporate values. Protect the brand. Use emotional intelligence. Get an MBA. Don’t live in a silo. Don’t talk techno-jargon. Go beyond compliance.
Of course the business world has changed over time in many ways. One change you may or may not know about is the revolution in accounting. Non-financial factors are accepted, or in the process of being accepted, as “material” to the long-term profitability of companies. In a 2013 survey of more than 160 investors, analysts and portfolio managers, Ernst & Young reported nine out of ten respondents said that non-financial performance was a key to their investment decisions at least once in the past 12 months.