As government regulations increase in number and industry standards rise, EHS (Environmental, Health and Safety) professionals are busier than ever. At the same time, EHS resources have remained static - or in some cases, actually decreased. Therefore, it is crucial for safety-conscious companies to find ways to improve the abilities of EHS professionals and properly enable them to effectively perform their tasks within the organization. But how can a company "build a better EHS professional"?
This is the question the DuPont Green Trees Project was formed to answer. This presentation will detail the work and findings of the Green Trees Project, which will provide insight into ways to improve the overall performance, effectiveness and job satisfaction of EHS professionals.
The DuPont Green Trees Project was formed to:
Define the roles, functions and expectations of EHS professionals
Identify competencies that distinguish superior performance in these areas
Determine how to use that knowledge to strengthen and enable EHS professionals through evaluation and training based on identified competencies
In this study, 38 EHS professionals at various DuPont locations were interviewed about their roles and asked to recall critical incidents in which they were involved. The interviews included a review of their level of involvement, a comparison between their thoughts on the incident that occurred and actions they took, and results of the incident.
An occupational psychologist analyzed the results of these interviews and identified common patterns of behavior in successfully handled safety-related incidents. Identified as competencies, these common and frequent behaviors - the motives, traits, characteristics or patterns of behaviors - distinguished superior performance.
Based on this research, the competencies were defined and placed in three categories: cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal. It was further concluded that these competencies could be developed or strengthened in an individual through proper training.
Green Trees Project participants and coordinators recommended implementing new methods of evaluating and training EHS professionals to help strengthen their individual performances. Part of this focus on the individual also requires identifying logistical complications that exist in the workplace which need to be overcome in order to provide the best environment to enable EHS professionals to perform effectively.
The DuPont Green Trees Study Methodology:
Separation into three focus teams (Environment, Health and Safety)
Definition of EHS professional roles and functions definition of "successful outcomes" in their functional objectives
Hypothesis of competencies required for achieving successful outcomes
Analysis of 263 incidents: 98 environmental (55% successful) - 103 health (60% successful) - 62 safety (58% successful). Analysis included a two- to three-hour, in-depth interview with EHS professionals involved in the incidents. These people were asked to share as detailed an account as possible - context, involvement, thoughts, actions, and immediate and sustaining outcomes. They identified personal characteristics that were either present or absent in successes and failures, and voiced areas of resistance or external obstacles in performing their functions
Development of a matrix to analyze patterns of successful/unsuccessful behaviors
