By Dave Johnson, Phylmar newsletter editor
The new environmental health and safety (EHS) think tank, the What Works Institute, and the Phylmar Group® have formed a founding partnership creating a new research-to-practice think tank and learning community. The partnership with the Phylmar Group will focus on emerging and critical issues such as modernizing EHS metrics, holistic health and wellbeing, neurodiversity, psychosocial issues and the connection between serious injuries and fatality prevention (SIF) and human and organizational performance (HOP).
The Phylmar Group (www.phylmar.com) was founded in 1997 by Mark Katchen and has been a leader in creating communities for EHS and sustainability professionals. It offers training, consulting, and established networks such as the Phylmar Regulatory Roundtable and the BioPharma EHS Forum.
“By leveraging Phylmar’s existing networks and our What Works research-driven approach, we’re excited to develop new learning communities across diverse sectors and global regions,” says Michelle Garner-Janna, the institute’s chief experience officer.
The What Works Institute (www.whatworksinstitute.com) was launched in early November. John Dony is the institute’s CEO, and a former executive with the National Safety Council. Garner-Janna, the chief experience officer, previously served as executive director of corporate health, safety and environment for Cummins, Inc.
“What’s missing in the EHS field is the comprehensive application of EHS research and best practices to meet the practical challenges and complexities organizations face today,” says Dony.
“If there is a common problem across a number of industries, we want provide guidance, tools and toolkits to help solve it, based on conversations with professionals,” says Garner-Janna.
Learning communities
What Works intends to build a number of learning communities across industry verticals (such as utilities, semiconductor/technology and more), regions (Latin America, Europe, etc.) and topics (from compliance issues such as heat stress to emerging topics such as neurodiversity) as it seeks to expand on Phylmar’s existing service model.
“The Phylmar Regulatory Roundtable and the Biopharma Network are learning community models,” says Dony. “We will grow communities around topics like regulatory engagement and advocacy and specific vertical industries.”
Learning communities will also have a global perspective. “We have conversations going on now in the Latin American community, in Europe and in the Middle East about particular risks,” says Garner-Janna. “In places like India and Asia-Pacific not only is the regulatory environment different; cultures, operating environments, demographics and risk profiles are different.”
Shared learning
Weekly updates, monthly practice-sharing calls, webinars, virtual and live events, tools, guidance, policies, program templates and white papers are received as part of membership in learning communities. Numerous resources can be purchased in the What Works online store or are freely shared. Planned resources on neurodiversity, for example, include an executive white paper summary, an organizational maturity model and a worker perception survey. “Much of the content from the institute will be public facing, free of charge. We want to make content and the work we do available as widely and freely as we can,” says Dony.
To ensure the institute’s focus and content are relevant, “We’re going to use a voting system. Our member organizations will be voting up or down on topics, whether they’re interested or not, and at what level. Our roadmap is really going to be based on what those votes are telling us,” says Garner-Janna. “We want to make sure that we are focusing on the topics that are of the most value and are currently the biggest interest of our members. We’ll also get peer-to-peer engagement through our working groups and what they want to delve into. “
“It’s really staying side by side with the membership and making sure we have regular ways to hear their voice, whether it’s voting, meetings, surveys, and so on,” says Dony.
Keeping pace with changing times
This is a unique time and there’s a unique need, he explains. The definition of EHS has gotten more complex and comprehensive in the past few years. The operating environment and the external environment are more complex. “There’s a greater need than ever to help navigate that complexity and help build bridges and move forward in a very targeted, lean, focused problem-solving organization,” Dony says, explaining the institute’s mission.
The What Works Institute is creating community space for organizations and safety leaders to connect and to learn from one another, says Garner-Janna. She emphasizes the need to share successes, and some hard lessons learned. “We’re really working to empower our members to stay ahead in the EHS landscape. By listening, by the collaboration, learning from one another and building together, we can really accelerate some meaningful change and create safer work environments for everyone.”
“I see the institute as a lighthouse, a guide or a beacon. It’s a way to be informed about wider EHS conversations. It’s a way to have a sense of community, to have people that you can lean on, whether they’re our staff or whether they’re your peers. You’ve got an organization that is here to help and to share to bring this community further together.”
For more information on What Works and to participate in an upcoming virtual or in-person gathering, email John Dony (john@whatworksinstitute.com).
Visit the What Works website (www.whatworksinstitute.com) for information about the institute’s team, principles and values, communities, solutions and events.
What Works will hold a webinar, “Embracing Neurodiversity in EHS” on December 12, 1:00-2:00 CT. Registration is free. Click the events tab here.
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