Читать книгу Patty's Industrial Hygiene, Program Management and Specialty Areas of Practice - Группа авторов - Страница 106

Human capital is a concept that has been in use for quite some time and dates back to the early seventeenth century (21). It is the concept behind the practice of safety and health since it promotes an intrinsic value for workers. It has not been a cornerstone of stakeholder concerns in sustainability in the past. This is changing, especially as many of the environmental and societal issues have been better defined. IOSH held a working group meeting on safety and health materiality in sustainability in 2003 and suggested

…most directors would acknowledge “people are the company's most valuable asset” and that consequently, protection of employees is material to all employers. It is by ensuring the health and safety of their workers that businesses help maintain their reliability and their skill and experience base – crucial in today's competitive environment (22).

Said another way, the people in an organization are an asset that should be part of financial reporting. Secondly, if people are an asset it follows that every measure should be taken for their safety, health, and productivity (23). This is the essence of the human capital reporting materiality which includes many other aspects of protecting or optimizing human assets aside from safety and health such as training, work‐life balance, employee engagement, etc.