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economies of scale fueled by increased customer demand for sustainable products have turned those expectations on end.
The increasing need for sustainable products has accurately been labeled “one of the key challenges facing industry in the 21st century.”6 Safety equipment suppliers recognize their critical role in developing sustainable products through sustainable production methods. Innovative product solutions must be combined with new ways of assessing the environmental impact of using these products.
Technology is the foundational first step, but stakeholders need quantifiable benefits to post against increasingly aggressive ESG assessments. There are several independent, objective assessment tools that can help calculate carbon footprints, including relatively simple calculators offered by The Nature Conservancy and the EPA. The output of these sustainability assessments can be fed back into ESG reporting. Further, sharing stories of tangible actions to be good corporate citizens and the global effort to combat climate change can generate a tremendous amount of goodwill.
According to a study by the National Environmental Education Foundation, almost 90 percent of employees engaged in their company’s sustainability work say it enhances their job satisfaction and overall feelings about the company.7 With these facts in mind, think about how sustainable hand protection can make an impact in an industrial production setting. The path is straightforward. Companies provide appropriate hand protection
required to allow workers to complete their work safely. Sustainable hand protection is deployed that offers comparable performance to higher carbon footprint incumbent. The immediate benefit is a sustainability benefit that can be quantified (using any metrics that align with company ESG commitments). The result is an immediate and impactful sustainability win that both motivates and engages employees while energizing broader stakeholders, investors and customers.
Rodney Taylor, MS, MBA serves as US Director of Sales for Watson Gloves and is a Trustee of ISEA.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.ga-institute.com/index.php?id=9128
2. https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/#:~:text=In%201896%2C%20a%20
seminal%20paper,Earth’s%20atmosphere%20to%20global%20warming.
3. https://www.cdp.net/en/articles/media/new-report-shows-just-100- companies-are-source-of-over-70-of-emissions
4. https://www.sustain.life/blog/scope-emissions 5. https://css.umich.edu/
6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/ S0959652602001646
7. https://www.neefusa.org/resource/winning-marketplace-and-workplace
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