SAP EHS ( Environment, Health, and Safety Management )

For any organization, employees are the most important assets. Apart from utilizing their skills, companies also have a responsibility to take care of their well-being. This includes looking after their safety and health while they are at work. They need to have strategies to handle occupational hazards. And, the legal formalities also need to be handled.

SAP EHS is a software that comes to the rescue here. It helps companies to detect and mitigate organizational risks. Its tools manage occupational/ product safety processes and corporate responsibility.

Let us dive into the details of this software solution.

What is SAP EHS?

Full form or SAP EHS stands for (Environment Health Safety Management).

SAP EHS is a software solution that was developed to manage industrial safety and hygiene. These include the well-being of employees, products, and the organization. Companies can integrate safety tasks within the current business processes. This helps them to be legally equipped and reduce the possibilities of risks.

It also aids corporate responsibilities. For example, a chemical engineering firm can check their chemicals and hygiene. This will help them to reduce any negative environmental impact they might have.

Furthermore, it helps companies to assess long-term and short-term risks. These can be the transmission, exposure, and infection of a foreign entity. SAP EHS provides advanced workflows for health surveillance and risk mitigation.

Features of SAP EHS

The salient features of SAP EHS are as follows –

1) Basic Data and Tools (EHS-BD)

SAP EHS offers all the tools and functions required for safety tasks. You can manage specifications for EHS objects. For example - dangerous goods, agents, waste codes, and packaging numbers. Templates for EHS reports are also available. And the best part is, all the tools are available in one place.

You can enter the EHS report data into the SAP systems and display it easily. The data can also be exchanged between different systems.

2) Product Safety (EHS-SAF)

The software provides functions that help companies to manage dangerous materials. This feature lets you handle and ship EHS reports on product safety. You can create a safety data sheet and labels. Also, these tools help in determining specifications or composition of the substances.

3) Hazardous Substance Management (EHS-HSM)

SAP EHS includes all functions required to manage and track hazardous goods. For example, you can create reports prescribed by the U.S. Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA).

4) Dangerous Goods Management (EHS-DGP)

This involves the processes to carry out tasks such as –

• Manage hazardous material master records

• Executing hazardous goods checks

• Prepare documents for these goods

• Handling storage, transportation, and delivery of dangerous goods

5) Waste Management (EHS-WA)

This feature enables users to handle waste disposal processes. You can create reports for waste transportation and disposal. Based on the reports, you can determine the resulting costs. These costs and reports can be distributed among the concerned departments.

6) Occupational Health (EHS-HEA)

This feature lets you conduct health surveillance checks and analyze the results. Based on this, the company executives can understand the patterns and health conditions of their firm. This helps them to take the necessary actions to address these health issues.

7) Industrial Hygiene and Safety (EHS-IHS)

With this feature, companies can focus on their hygiene and safety standards. You can create detailed accident reports and standard operating procedures reports.

Functionalities of the SAP EHS System

The SAP EHS software solution ensures that safety is maintained across all departments. It offers organizations a systematic approach to manage their waste materials. The software helps employees to execute business operations while maintaining environmental regulations. SAP EHS has important functionalities that ensure workplace safety conditions. These include air quality and ergonomics.

Let us look at the key functionalities of SAP EHS – 

• Employee Health and Safety Functionality

This focuses on the processes related to industrial hygiene and occupational health conditions. Suppose an employee handles a dangerous substance. He/she has to maintain certain rules. This is essential for the well-being of the employee and the workplace. SAP EHS makes handling these processes easier.

Furthermore, risk management and asset management processes are integrated by this feature. The software can place risk information into work orders for employees. It also proposes safety measures.

• Product and REACH Compliance Functionality

This functionality helps an organization to maintain checks on materials and products. It also helps in maintaining compliance regulations for industries. This ensures that the production materials and final products are safe.

The feature enables establish compliance workflows. Officials can assign policies and legal requirements to business operations.

• Product Safety Functionality

This functionality helps companies to meet their legal, safety, and sustainability responsibilities. This is also helpful in maintaining the supply chain of products. Regulations for product storage, packaging, and transportation are also maintained.

• Environmental Compliance Management Functionality

The different environmental laws and policies are maintained by this functionality. Companies can track air and water emissions to ensure environmental safety. All the related activities and tasks can be tracked using this feature.

SAP EHS Advantages

The key benefits SAP EHS offers to any organization are –

• Helps companies to develop industrial hygiene and occupational health programs
• Analyze operational data to predict hazards and take steps to mitigate them
• Shared data, integrated business processes, and workflows help in enhancing the EHS process
• Safeguard operational continuity by detecting and mitigating safety risks
• It helps to follow legal and safety regulations, thus saving accidental costs
• Enhance the safety standards of business operations. This is possible due to the constant
• Analyze accidents efficiently to prevent them in future
• The software helps in including risk management strategies into daily business operations. This reduces the chances of risk and creates awareness amongst employees
• Create and implement health surveillance protocols
• Prepare questionnaires and assignments to gather data about workplace conditions

SAP EHS Certification Course

An SAP EHS Certification training course helps you understand the SAP EHS platform. After completing the course, you will be able to understand many important concepts. These include business data, creating reports, and editing product safety information. You will also know about the report management activities and phrase management.

Candidates knowing the SAP platform and navigation can enrol in this course.

With this certification under your belt, you can get a job as an SAP EHS Consultant. The average salary of an SAP EHS Consultant is INR 21.8 LPA. So, you can have a rewarding career!

Conclusion

As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. So, companies have been adopting SAP EHS ever since its launch. Over the years, they have ensured their organizational safety. This in turn has helped employees to be more productive and happy, as they feel safe.

SAP EHS Important Resources

• SAP EHS Official Page: https://www.sap.com/india/products/ehs-management-health-safety.html