Center for Safety & Health Sustainability
CSHS: Advancing the safety, health and sustainability of the global workplace.

Why The Human Capital Project?

An organization’s human capital includes the skills, knowledge and abilities that workers bring to their work and how they use them. Effective occupational health and safety (OHS) management helps workers safely operate in their work environments, making OHS a foundational element of human capital. Effective management of an organization’s human capital underpins corporate performance and sustainability. CSHS supports research that advances the use of OHS metrics that help corporations attain optimal human capital/OHS performance, and ultimately improve long term corporate financial performance.

Research

With the financial support of the American Society of Safety Professionals and the ASSP Foundation, CSHS partnered with Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program, RobecoSAM, and BrownFlynn on a unique new study examining corporate disclosure of human capital policies/procedures and outcomes, including those related to OHS. It builds on ongoing work undertaken by the Labor and Worklife Program and analyzes responses to the RobecoSAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment, an extensive survey of companies that drives the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).

The Project held two workshops with groups of stakeholders from around the world to discuss the research. The inaugural meeting was held in the spring of 2017 to discuss the preliminary results.

Workshops

Workshop #4 (April 2019)

Agenda | Slides

CSHS held its fourth Human Capital Workshop on April 4th at the L'Oréal Headquarters in Paris, France. More details to follow.

Resources:

Workshop #3 (March 2018)

Agenda | Attendees | Event Summary | Slides

Special advisor: ERM

In March 2018, CSHS held a third Human Capital Workshop in Vancouver, engaging Canadian stakeholders in advance of the GLOBE Forum. Attendees included representatives from publicly traded companies, investment houses, academia, and the framework and standard-setting industries.

After speaker presentations, attendees were asked to share reactions and discussed the following questions:

  • Business case: What are the most effective drivers for increased disclosure and transparency on the part of corporations?
  • Scope: What needs to be included in the definition of Human Capital in the area of workplace health and safety performance?
  • Metrics: What are the next steps to identifying the most critical metrics? Who should do it (standard bodies, rating agencies, safety profession, etc.)?
  • Research/Tools: Which research and/or tools are the most critical to moving the health and safety field toward Human Capital reporting that is complete, accurate, relevant, and understood by investors and stakeholders?

Speakers:

  • Sonal Pandya Dalal, Technical Director, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
  • Mark Fattedad, CFA, Partner, Jarislowsky Fraser Global Investment Management
  • Alyson Genovese, Head of USA & Canada, Global Reporting Initiative
  • Toby Heaps, CEO, Corporate Knights
  • Dennis Hudson, Executive Director, American Society of Safety Professionals
  • Bob Laux, North American Lead, International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)
  • Hugues Letourneau, Senior ESG Analyst, Shareholder Association for Research & Education (SHARE)
  • Kathy Tull, President, Canadian Society of Safety Engineering
Workshop #2 (October 2017)

Agenda | Attendees | Event Summary | Press Release

Special advisor: ERM

Sponsored by: Avetta

In October 2017, CSHS held a follow-up workshop at Harvard Law School where the final research was released. Experts from publicly traded companies, investor groups, and framework, and standard-setting organizations reacted to the findings and provided their feedback.

After presentations from experts in the field, workshop attendees shared reactions to the research findings and discussed the following questions:

  • Human capital management and reporting can drive performance, yet more research is needed. What research is most important? What are the best ways to engage with companies in that research?
  • There is a gap between human capital management and disclosure. What are the best ways to spur companies to publicly disclose the metrics that they do track and collect (privately) and inspire them to publicly disclose?
  • There is a need for improved quality, consistency, and comparability of metrics. What steps should be taken by and with whom to spur a more broadly shared uniformity of metrics for public disclosure?

Speakers

  • Cambria Allen, Corporate Governance Director, United Autoworkers (UAW) Retiree Medical Benefits Trust
  • Larry Beeferman, Director, Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project Labor and Worklife Program - Harvard Law School
  • Aaron Bernstein, Senior Research Fellow, Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project Labor and Worklife Program - Harvard Law School
  • Sharon Block, Executive Director of the Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
  • Bastian Buck, Director Standards, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
  • Guillermo Castillo, Health, Safety and Environment Director, Cummins
  • Darryl Hill, Director, EHS Governance & Product Stewardship, Abbott
  • Bob Laux, North American Lead, International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)
  • Aeisha Mastagni, Portfolio Manager, California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS)
  • David Post, Director of Research, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
  • Kathy Seabrook, Chair of the Center for Safety and Health Sustainability
Workshop #1 (March 2017)

Agenda | Attendees | Event Summary | Slides

Special advisor: ERM

Sponsored by: Avetta

In March 2017, CSHS hosted an inaugural workshop on the disclosure of human capital policies and practices where the Harvard team shared preliminary findings of the human capital benchmark assessment. Attendees represented a diverse cross-section of global experts, including corporate practitioners, investors, specialized ESG research firms, standards-setting organizations, NGOs, and industry/professional associations. They discussed the latest sustainability trends, frameworks, standards, and disclosures, as well as how financial markets consider human capital in decision-making.

Following presentations from experts in the field, workshop attendees shared reactions to the research findings and responded to the following questions regarding how each stakeholder group can advance the dialogue on human capital:

  1. Academic Research: What would you like to see from the Harvard team as they finalize this research and explore future research?
  2. ESG Researchers: What can ESG research firms like RobecoSAM do to improve the collection, dissemination, and accessibility of information?
  3. Investors & Investor Groups: What can investor groups do to help drive more relevance to these issues?
  4. Occupational Health & Safety Profession: How would you like to see CSHS engage the market and influence future efforts to connect OHS with human capital?

The results and additional information from RobecoSAM informed the final report.

Speakers

  • Cambria Allen, Corporate Governance Director at UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust; Human Capital Management Coalition
  • Larry Beeferman, Director of the Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project, Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
  • Aaron Bernstein, Senior Fellow with the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School
  • Robert Dornau, Director, Senior Manager Sustainability Services, RobecoSAM
  • Evan Harvey, Director of Corporate Responsibility, Nasdaq; Board Member, Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB)
  • Luke Hildyard, Policy Lead: Stewardship and Corporate Governance at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association
  • Dennis Hudson, Executive Director of the American Society of Safety Professionals
  • Kathy Seabrook, Chair of the Center for Safety and Health Sustainability
  • Susanne Stormer, Vice President, Corporate Sustainability, Novo Nordisk; Council Member, International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)
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