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Derek Sharron

Posted 05/11/2022 by Kimberlee Sinclair, Director, Global Communications

Q&A with Derek Sharron, Global Director of Environmental, Health, Safety and Security

Derrick Sharron Global Director of EHS discusses how Sustainable business practices are more than just respecting then the planet, and how COVID-19 affects those practices.

“We recognize that there is a widespread desire among our employees to implement sustainability projects” - Derek Sharron, Global Director - Environmental, Health, Safety, and Security

More than ever, issues surrounding climate action and corporate ecological footprints are directing the international political, social and business agenda. We are rising to the challenge with our commitments to sustainability, which include understanding and respecting the world’s finite resources, supporting communities in need, and building strong workplace cultures where employees are trained and empowered in their work. Sustainability issues are often complex and have multiple interdependent factors, which means sustainable development requires a holistic perspective across teams, programs and partners. Over the past few years, we have been thoughtfully considering the impact of our operations, people, and products not only on the environment, but the communities where we live and work and our stakeholders around the world. We talked with Derek Sharron, Global Director - Environmental, Health, Safety, and Security, about our company priorities and how we are addressing those challenges while also fighting a persistent global pandemic.

Question: Changing habits is not easy, but every organization has the power to respond to the climate challenge and build a more sustainable world. How are we doing it?

Sustainability is not only fundamental to who we are as a company, but a source of competitive advantage. As our customers work to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, such as curtailing climate change, they look to H.B. Fuller as their technology partner to help them do that. This partnership encourages purpose-driven innovation in our products and manufacturing processes and leads to positive externalities throughout the value chain, such as reductions in energy and waste.

Question: In a year like no other, what would you highlight from the EHS team’s efforts?

Very early on in the pandemic, our leadership team developed a business continuity strategy that kept employee safety as our foremost concern at every one of our 71 sites around the world. We formed teams in each region focused on keeping us up to date on the spread of the COVID-19 virus, applying protective measures, and planning for a safe continuation of our operations to keep providing essential products to our customers. We were the “first and fastest” at responding to customer needs during the pandemic and developed new ways to connect with them. which resulted in an excellent performance for H.B. Fuller. To do this, we did what we always do: focus on what was most important – our employees and our customers – and our talented teams around the world stepped up to take care of the rest.

Question: Regarding our facilities’ ecological footprint, what will H.B. Fuller’s focus be for 2021 and beyond?

We have invested in an EHS (Environment, Health, Safety and Security) model that is supported by digital solutions to enhance our data collection and analysis, which enables us to make informed decisions that will lead to reductions in energy, water, waste, and greenhouse gas emissions. We also are in the process of developing a playbook for sites to use in pursuit of sustainable best practices. We recognize that there is a widespread desire among our employees to implement sustainability projects, and we want to foster this by defining “The H.B. Fuller Way” for project identification, planning, and execution. Like that, we can capitalize on the innovations of our global team and develop a project pipeline that will position us to better meet our stated goals and continue to connect what matters.

Thanks to Sharron and our employees shared mission, H.B. Fuller is continuing to perform sustainable business practices, including respecting the world’s resources, supporting communities in need, building supportive and empowering workplace cultures, and most importantly, connecting what matters.

Link to: Sustainability | Global Responsibility | H.B. Fuller 





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