It’s official: architectural design is going green. They’re not the only industry to do so.

As an EHS professional, many of your safety responsibilities circle back to the same basic question: who and what does health and safety legislation protect?

Going to work every day is a lot of things. It can be exciting, engaging, frustrating, even boring. But it’s never supposed to be unnecessarily dangerous. That’s the goal of health and safety in an organization, to prevent workplace illness and injury by minimizing risk. It can be daunting but there are resources and strategies that can help.

The U.S. Department of Labor, the biggest enforcer of workplace health & safety laws in the U.S., administers more than 180 laws covering the activities of 150 million workers and 10 million workplaces across the country. After all, there are a lot of dangers that workers face on the job.

Pop quiz: who is responsible for health and safety in the workplace?

Approaches to health and safety in the workplace are as many and varied as the safety issues your workplace may encounter. After all, workplaces are diverse, and they need to find a safety approach that works for their needs.

Like a quiz in school, a health & safety quiz is a great way for an EHS team to test what employees know about safety. But at a deeper level, it’s also a great way to get your workers thinking about essential safety issues.

Your company considers health and safety a core value. You’re committed to making safety part of everything you do, and you want a health and safety department that reflects that level of commitment.

It’s one thing to say your company has a good track record when it comes to workplace safety but how can you prove it? Using OSHA safety metrics is one of the standard ways that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration evaluates companies on their safety record.

Going to work can be really stressful but it shouldn’t be made more stressful by dangerous working conditions. While some basic health and safety measures are regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA, those may be considered the bare minimum, and they may not address all the risks present at a particular company.