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You, Anxiety, Stress & Your OHSE Responsibilities Are Keys

Updated: Aug 26, 2023

Wellness audits (including mental health initiatives) or any ESG or OHSE initiative and implementing environmental strategies in every workplace, small or large is essential for many important, legal and regulatory reasons.


But most people and companies do not know what OHSE, ESG or what Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) actually mean and how to understand why they are important to the small and 'big picture' of an organisation, workplace and an individual's understanding and motivation.


Rolling out an OHSE audit or plan or conducting a toolbox meeting is so much easier when you know what you are talking about and when people understand how they are a huge part of the plan and to keep people healthy, less anxious and motivated on an ongoing basis is not easy.


Just asking questions or having an OHSE plan up near your desk will help with addressing some issues, yet many companies still prefer to put off coaching or not incorporate OHSE and ESG into everyday working life and some even in management don't even know what it stands for.


Most employees or companies (entities) who practice OHSE (occupational, health, safety, and environment) do not actually know what the ‘E’ even stands for or omit it altogether.


In terms of OHSE, each state is different and has different Acts, but the United Nations goals apply to Australia as a whole and many countries internationally and are seventeen in total and called Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).


Many OHSE professional keep mentioning OHS but forget that the ‘E’ is for environment and it needs to be embraced within the acronym itself and not be made separate and they also need to know what a SDG is and many do not.


Here we explore what we are measuring in terms of a wellness audit and the importance of OHSE, ESG and the United Nations sustainable development goals SDG's that all help us all move forward and briefly explain some history.


Here we believe that for people to understand their own responsibilities and take actions daily to create less stress and anxiety in their lives, it is essential for them to understand how their actions are also a part of laws, acts, regulations, statutes, and legislations locally and internationally.


We need to look at the keys to sustainability and at our own responsibilities as a ‘stakeholder’ as well as entities. For greater more sustainable approaches to understanding our responsibilities whatever our title or position is as individuals, business, company, or corporations it all contributes to the greater goal.


In relation to responsibilities and actions, there are 17 sustainable development goals according to the United Nations (reference THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development (un.org) the 17 goals are as follows;


  1. No poverty

  2. No hunger

  3. Good health and wellbeing

  4. Quality Education

  5. Gender equality

  6. Clean water and sanitation

  7. Affordable and clean energy

  8. Decent work and economic growth

  9. Industry innovation and infrastructure

  10. Reduced inequalities

  11. Sustainable cities and communities

  12. Responsible production and consumption

  13. Climate Action

  14. Life below water

  15. Life on land

  16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

  17. Partnership for the goals


According to the website www.sdgs.un.org/goals;


The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.


It is these sustainable development goals that are essential to understand and abide by for all stakeholders, meaning me and you and for all countries involved in it to engage with their communities and others and have cross lateral growth and performance.


All of this is very exciting as we get to explore what works and how to make healthiest and not just ‘healthier’ choices in our lives at home or work and to be able to address climate change and reduce our carbon at the same time.


There are many other keys that contribute to assisting the sustainable governance locally and worldwide. Here we also look at the transformation and evolution of ESG (Environmentally Social Governance) and how each one of us is considered a stakeholder in the greater scheme rather than just pawns we are all great actors taking part in making this world less stressful, cleaner and aim to reduce our carbon along the way.


At Reduce Stress Now we embrace how we can personally make greater life choices that will assist with utilising less energy and maximise our own performance to keep having the greatest impact in our life simultaneously across all spheres (knowing what we are aiming to do and achieve is key).


With ESG, the acronym stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance and is a framework that helps stakeholders understand how an organization is managing risks and opportunities related to the environmental, social, and governance criteria (sometimes called ESG factors).


ESG takes the holistic view that sustainability extends beyond just environmental issues and whilst the term ESG is often used in the context of investing, stakeholders it includes not just the investment community but also customers, suppliers, and employees.


Likewise, all of whom are increasingly more interested and must know how to be more sustainable as an organization’s operations are what makes life in business now much more interesting from an environmental perspective.


Remembering that the less stressed the environment is, the less stressed we are and ESG is about how governments and legislations are creating the framework for everyone to abide by, work within and grow. Here we briefly explain ESG as;


1. Environmental

Environmental factors refer to an organization’s environmental impact(s) and risk management practices and these include direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, management’s stewardship over natural resources, and a company or entities overall resiliency against physical climate risks (like climate change, flooding, fires, etc.).


2. Social

The social part of ESG and pillar refers to an organization’s relationships with stakeholders and examples of these factors can be that a firm may be measured against include human capital management (HCM) metrics (like fair wages and employee engagement) but also an organization’s impact on the communities in which it operates which also relates to what is considered ‘local.’


A hallmark of ESG is how social impact expectations have extended outside the walls of the company (entity) and to supply chain partners, particularly those in developing economies where environmental and labour standards may be considered less robust or strong.


3. Governance

Corporate governance refers to how an organization, company, or business (entity) is led and managed and ESG analysts will seek to understand better how leadership’s incentives are aligned with stakeholder expectations, how shareholder rights are viewed and honoured, and what types of internal controls exist to promote transparency and accountability on the part of leadership.


The Transformation & Evolution of ESG


ESG alone helps us all to assess how an organization, business or entity manages the risks and opportunities created by changing conditions, such as shifts in environmental, economic, and social systems.


Investing and ESG Funds


ESG really went mainstream when the framework became an integral part of many institutional investors’ way of operating – in other words – it became more mandatory.


There are also a growing number of ESG rating agencies that assign ESG scores, as well as new and evolving reporting frameworks.


What is exciting is that all of this means that they are improving the transparency and consistency of the ESG information that firms are reporting publicly (often called ESG disclosure).


The capital markets are in many ways the key to making greater change and ESG a powerful tool to creating change.


By restricting access to capital (or making the terms under which it is available less favourable for all), negative (badly seen) actors may be incentivized to improve performance across all ESG streams.


Likewise, it is important to reward and acknowledge companies and their management teams that are performing well against ESG factors as encouraging for continued progress and improvements is essential long term.


It is important to have legislation and regulations, and how this information is conveyed and best utilised throughout a business, corporation or entity is what excites us and is what we do in our sessions, training and coaching.


This can be a key to lessoning anxiety and stress and creating a workplace that embraces change and transformation, is motivated and energised.


There is no point in talking about great OHSE when people are not given a break or even allowed to get up and stretch at their computer without being spawned at negatively.


We need to embrace the changes and the United Nations goals and ESG regulations in everything that we do for work (businesses and markets) to truly look at healthiest choices for us (the individual) communities, countries and the environment.


At RSN we refer to it as OHSE when it comes to Occupational health safety and environment but in the world of finance, business and sustainability and money many still call it OHS and forget the environmental aspect.


There are many ways to embrace change and uphold OHSE to help reduce stress and anxiety and understanding what we are all dealing with is a start, and here we hope you found some interesting keys.


We recommend a wellness audits (including mental health initiatives) regularly and implementing environmental strategies in every workplace, small or large for people to understand their own responsibilities and take actions daily which we believe can be keys to help reduce stress and anxiety. A simple one-page OHSE plan in the company lobby or next to your desk can do wonders.



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