Societal Responsiblity
Environmental Sustainability for Hospital Board of Directors
The greening of people and of the organization, improving the well-being of both…if green is a heart color of the organization; it will be a thread that runs throughout the organization. It will become the way we function on daily basis.
David Wold, Board Chair, MultiCare/Good Samaritan Hospital, Bishop Emeritus, Southwestern Washington Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The MultiCare Good Samaritan campus is constructing the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certified patient care center in the state of Washington. LEED is an internationally recognized building certification providing third-party verification that a building or community is designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
The Puyallup, Wash., community has participated in the design of the LEED building and is beginning to understand the environmental commitment set by building a 'green' building. As evidenced by the comments of Chairman Wold, sustainability and stewardship go beyond financial resources. “The board sees the bottom line; fiscal accountability has been the focus in the past; quality and safety is the new focus; and it is now trendy to 'go green.' But this is a serious responsibility of health care organizations as we should be the role model for healthy living in our communities.” Wold continues by saying that health care organizations should not only look at throughput, but what is PUT THROUGH the system – meaning the waste that is produced on a daily basis. The practice of using lean process improvement practices to reduce the waste in patient throughput and the patient care delivery process is common, but Wold challenges leaders to view throughput in a different way –by literally examining products, packaging and waste processed throughout the system.
Health care organizations are inherently socially responsible because they care for the patients and partner with the community to improve health and well-being. But societal responsibility means more than serving communities by taking care of patients. Societal responsibility includes becoming role models for sustainability within communities; leading by example to reduce the impact on the environment; and helping patients understand how to care for themselves in a more preventive and holistic manner. Health care can focus on environmental sustainability by reducing its carbon footprint, recycling and reusing, practicing environmentally preferred purchasing practices, working with its suppliers to reduce packaging and waste, using renewable energy as a part of a strategic energy management plan, reducing the hazardous waste and toxins that are produced and disposed, building more energy efficient buildings that cost less to operate due to innovation, and using green cleaning products, just to name a few approaches.
John Long, president, MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, says that “building a LEED patient care tower gives us the opportunity to put a stronger environmental sustainability foundation in place- systems and process--to be far more sustainable and responsible. It is a quantum leap in MultiCare’s efforts to be more environmentally sustainable and shows our community that we are committed to caring not only for the environment of care, but also for the environment in which we live. And the Good Samaritan board of directors has been supportive of our green building design during the entire process.”
Social Responsibility at the Board Level
The Baldrige National Quality Award criteria for societal responsibility and community health stresses the importance of leaders to be role models who focus on the protection of public health, safety and the environment.
ISO 26000 Seven Subjects
ISO 26000 is a draft international standard that provides guidance on the underlying principles of social responsibility, the core subjects and issues pertaining to social responsibility and on ways to integrate socially responsible behavior into existing organizational strategies, systems, practices and processes. ISO 26000 emphasizes the importance of results and improvements in performance. The final version is due to be published in 2010.
These seven subjects have been identified as core to social responsibility:
Organizational Governance—The system by which an organization makes and implements decisions with objectives that may be defined by the organization’s members, owners, constituents, or others.
Human Rights—Two broad categories including civil and political rights, and economic, social, and cultural rights.
Labor Practices—All policies and practices relating to work performed within, by, or on behalf of the organization.
The Environment—The decisions and activities of organizations associated with use of energy and natural resources, the generation of pollution and waste, and the implications of its activities, products and services on natural habitats.
Fair Operating Practices—Ethical conduct in an organization’s dealings with other organizations.
Consumer Issues—Use of fair, transparent and helpful marketing, information and contractual processes that affect consumers.
Community Involvement and Development—Issues involving the relationships between the organization and other organizations and institutions in the communities where they operate, and development of economic, social, cultural, political and environmental dimensions of society.
Is your board of directors focusing on environmental sustainability and the value it can add to your organization and community? Is it included in your organization’s vision, mission or values? Are the objectives of the organization aligned with a commitment to environmental responsibility? Here are some questions to consider:
• Has your board of directors defined what societal responsibility means to your organization?
• Has the executive team defined societal responsibility for your organization? Are the definitions in agreement?
• Is environmental sustainability a core value in your organization? Is in included in your definition or as a core component of societal responsibility?
• How are you measuring the commitment and performance on societal responsibility, including environmental sustainability?
• Do you have established performance measures that are reported on a regular basis?
• Do you have improvement goals associated with societal responsibility?
• Do you measure the maturity of your societal responsibility approach and core values?
• Is your organization a role model for the community in environmental sustainability?
• How do you engage the community in sustainability?
• How to you help educate the community to encourage a change in practices and behaviors?
Examining these questions and reviewing if and how sustainability is currently integrated and measured should be a crucial part of the board’s role in leading healthcare organizations into the next century of growth.
Laura Kinney is practice leader, environmental sustainability, MultiCare Health System and senior American Society for Quality Member; treasurer, ASQ Healthcare Division. ASQ’s role in the SR movement is to provide quality tools and resources to individuals and organizations to help create sustainable programs that deliver bottom-line results. In late 2010, ASQ will publish ISO 260000, the international standard on social responsibility mentioned in this article. Visit www.thesro.org for a more in depth look at the topic of social responsibility in health care.
