Letter: Reporting standard has been updated

In your article, Sustainability (June 2018), there is a discussion on occupational health and safety reporting and metrics. It states that reporting on the subject is far from widespread and, when carried out, it makes reference to “lagging indicators of performance, like lost-time injury rates or recordable injury rates.” This, it is stated, has to do with reliance on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards, which lack “leading safety indicators … such as risk assessment, training and hazard identification.”

The experts interviewed in the article see “a lot of room for improvement” when it comes to reporting on health and safety issues in the workplace. And the GRI, the leading independent international organization in sustainability reporting, agrees with this assessment.

That is why we have recently updated the reporting standard on Occupational Health and Safety to ensure it is aligned with the latest best practice. Kathy Seabrook was part of the expert committee – along with representatives from ILO, OSHA and IOSH, among many others.

The new standard, which was released in June, contains leading indicators that are applicable to all organizations. For example, there are indicators on the implementation of an occupational health and safety management system and active engagement and training of workers.

This update also places a greater emphasis on the identification of hazards, assessment of risks and the application of the Hierarchy of Controls. All of these are key for understanding the efforts that a company is making to become aware and address those hazards that may lead to injuries or ill health in the future.

These changes will help contribute to a wider adoption of leading safety indicators and improvement of companies’ occupational health and safety practices worldwide.

The release of the standard was announced on GRI’s website. Interested parties can consult the project site (sh-m.ag/2KD4sEp) and sign up (sh-m.ag/2IOwXKf) for updates.

Bastian Buck
Director, Sustainability Reporting Standard
Global Reporting Initiative