BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT

For achieving business sustainability, the foundation of the business has to be made rock solid with Profit, People and Planet (3P). Hence, the concept of sustainability shall be included in the Business strategy.  Indranil Ghosh, Director of M/s Learners & Winners Training & Consultancy Pvt. Ltd., based on his study and experience, has developed one low-cost generic, fairly simple and straightforward tool named as “The Winners’ Sustainability Model” (Copyright No.: L-104410/2021) that would help the organization to achieve a high level of sustainability. This Model consists of the following Modules:

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• Module 1 – Leadership & Governance (L&G):

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Good leadership is essential for the effective operation of any organization. Good leadership begins with defining the organization's expectations (purpose, vision, values, goals and policies), aligning these with the expectations of other stakeholders and developing a strategy for achieving these expectations. Leaders are responsible for defining the core business of the organization and identifying the major business risks. Leaders must also demonstrate a commitment to improvement through practical leadership by “walking the talk”, “Open Dialogs”, “HSE communications” etc.

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• Module 2 – Legal & Regulatory Requirements / Compliance (C):

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All applicable and updated legal and regulatory requirements shall be tracked and adhered. The organization may maintain a Legal register, in which all applicable legal and local body requirements along with their tracking, would find a place. This legal register shall be reviewed, time to time, by the senior management. Any Non-Compliance to any Statutory Requirement shall be treated seriously and on SOS basis.

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• Module 3 – Risk Assessment (RA):

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Quality risks are the potential failure to meet key stakeholders’ expectations. To deliver high-quality products and services sustainably, the organization must identify current and future stakeholder expectations, and ensure it can meet them at all times. Employees must have a good awareness of risk at all times. A team approach to process and task risk evaluation will drive a strong risk and hence a proactive safety and health culture in the organization will evolve.

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Module 4 – Work & Organization Management (WM):

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The organization’s success and business stability depend on how the organization manages its work system. The chances of stability are enhanced if the functioning of the organization is based on robust systematic processes. "Permit to Work" System, LOTO, Use of SOP & WI, material safety data sheets etc. are the proactive initiatives to systemize the Work Management.

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• Module 5 – Occupational Safety (OS):

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It is sub-divided into a few sections:

• General Safety (GS) – it is very important in any business. Here the implementation of all planned actions, maintenance and upkeep of premises, equipment and training of all employees and contractors are explained. Emergency preparedness is a very important aspect in plant & office given external and internal risks.

• Electrical Safety (ES) – It is a very important aspect in any industry which has high power requirements due to lighting and other utilities used for production. Due to the needs of proper décor and aesthetic appeal, cables are often completely concealed which might make access for inspection difficult. If changes which might happen in the electrical installations through controlled processes, this might lead to situations which could be highly hazardous.

• Fire Safety (FS) – It is very critical to any industry. Since the furnishings within a building or workshop are aimed at improving the safety of employees and might be constructed of materials which might be combustible and potential to causing thick smoke, detection and first reactions are very important to reduce or avoid losses to life and property. The chemical and the processes used for the production may the sources of fire.

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There can be other sub-divisions like –

• Work at Height for the activities where height is the prime hazard;

• Confined Space for the places which are substantially enclosed and hazards are lack of oxygen, accumulation of toxic & flammable gas etc.;

• Mechanical Safety (MS) for the protection against Physical Hazard;

• Chemical Safety (CS) to deal with the hazards of the chemicals;

• Excavation; Project & Construction; Lifting, Shifting & Logistics etc.

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• Module 6 – People’s Competency / Learning & Development (L&D):

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The success of any process depends upon the competency of the people performing the tasks. As a result, this module is very important and has been separated from the Human Focus. These people, about whom we are discussing here, maybe the organization’s employees on the role, contractors’ personnel, trainees & apprentices; they can even be the visitors, vendors, customers and the people in the neighbourhood. Each one has definite roles in the sustainability of the organization. Hence, they need to be educated appropriately.

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Right manpower shall be deployed for the right kind of job. The organization need to select, develop and deploy the people with adequate qualification, competency and authorization. There is also a need to communicate to employees and visitors on key fire safety emergency procedures.

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• Module 7 – Human Focus:

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Sustainability of the organization depends up how its employees are agile and humane in their dealings. And how they are motivated to bring in innovation, environmental consciousness and safety culture in the organization. This module takes care of Employee Satisfaction, Employee Engagement, their Wok Life Balance etc. In short, how the organization takes care of employees’ health, safety & wellbeing promotes diversity & cohesiveness and engages its employees to bring in high-performance work culture.

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• Module 8 – Environment:

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The environment is the strongest pillar of sustainability, the ‘planet’ of the 3P. Without taking care of the environment, sustainability cannot be achieved. Environmental management shall be the focused area of this module. Sanctity of implementation of ISO 14001 may be one of the purposes of this module. The protocol questions of this module shall be more skewed towards the implementation issues of the Environment Management System.

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Often environmental and social activities are clubbed together if compliance module (Module 2) is robust and capable enough to address and take care of environmental issues. Environmental Education may be part of Learning & Development (Module 6) when environment and sustainability learning are integrated.

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• Module 9 – Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):

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To achieve sustainability, the organization shall consider the environmental & societal issues as their responsibility and address them adequately.

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The social issues are social or societal demands, the External Factors as per management parlance. Some of these issues are quite old along with many emerging ones. Various methods may be opted to understand societal requirements. PESTAL, use of social media, community interaction etc. are some of the examples.

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Social issues can also be global issues like climate change, pollution levels etc. As a result, this module may also consist of the abstracts of Wellbeing Assessment (as described in the Wellbeing of Nations) that features a hierarchically organized set of indicators rooted in the “egg of sustainability” where the ecosystem is the white of the egg, and the human system the yolk.

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Module 10 – Operational & Business Excellence:

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Operation Excellence is a highly specialized and plant & business specific subject. For Business Excellence, many other exclusive models are available. This module takes care of the implementation part of the productivity, waste reduction, 5S, Six Sigma, Quality Management Systems, Systematic Operation & maintenance practices of the plant & equipment etc.