Environment Health And Safety Market

Market Overview

The global environment health and safety market size was valued at USD 61,700 million in 2021. It is estimated to reach USD 127,510 million by 2030, with a CAGR of 8.4% during the forecast period (2022–2030). 

Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) is a broad phrase used by organizations to represent laws, standards, policies, professional programs, and professional workplace actions to ensure the health and safety of employees, the public, and the environment. A company's EHS department provides that the work does not harm the environment or endanger the safety and health of its people and that all applicable legislation is followed.

EHS's primary purpose is to avoid and minimize workplace accidents, crises, health difficulties, and any environmental destruction that may occur due to work practices. It is in charge of developing and implementing a company's whole health and safety program. EHS is a regulatory system that identifies and adheres to a firm's production standards, emphasizing employment conditions in terms of security and environmental protection. 

Market Dynamics

Global Environment Health and Safety Market Drivers

Rising Importance of Workplace Health and Safety

According to the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2019, over 2.8 million people suffered an injury or work-related illness in the private sector. Over 50% of the working-class people required days away from work, restrictions on the ability to work, or job transfers in the US. Based on the rate of injuries, the most injury-prone sectors include air transportation, wood product manufacturing, couriers and messengers, nursing and residential care facilities, and animal production. Many companies have accepted that accidents are a norm and spend millions on employee compensation. 

According to the National Safety Council, over 60% of the CFOs reported that each USD 1 invested in injury prevention at the workplace returned USD 2 or more in 2017. As a result, several companies across the globe started investing heavily in EHS services and software to reduce indirect costs such as legal fees, compensation, and hiring a new employee and gain employee's confidence and loyalty. Due to stringent implementation and frequent changes in employee safety regulations in developed countries, many companies have started using EHS software to stay up-to-date and compliant with the changing rules. One of the essential advantages of EHS software solutions is that they assist businesses in staying organized and tracking, standardizing, and streamlining operations required for ISO 9001 compliance. 

In addition to being compliant with state and federal worker safety regulations, EHS software and solutions help boost employee morale, which helps gain more customers because of increased response time, thereby boosting a company's profit. Many companies review safety performance during vendor selection as safety is an essential criterion while awarding contracts. Changing workplace safety standards, increasing investments in occupation hygiene tools, and changing industry dynamics are expected to stimulate the EHS market growth over the forecast period.

Global Environment Health and Safety Market Restraints

Low Consumer Awareness and Short-Term Challenges

Environment Health and Safety (EHS) programs are considered unnecessary by small- and medium-sized firms owing to high implementation costs. The budget allocated by small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies for EHS is meager and given low priority. Growing concerns about greenhouse gases and climate change, such as those adopted under the EPA Clean Power Plan or UV COP-21 Paris Agreement, may result in additional environmental regulations on fossil fuel projects.

Organizations need to adhere to the legislation, international protocols, regulations, or other restrictions on emission regulations, which may either increase project costs or stall projects. Furthermore, considerable changes in governmental policies and industrial requirements can create uncertainties, thus, negatively impacting the global EHS market. Businesses may see specific environmental laws negatively if they spend more to comply with the regulations.

Global Environment Health and Safety Market Opportunities

Rising Government Regulations for Environmental Protection

Rising government regulations for environmental protection, especially in the US and Europe, are expected to create lucrative growth opportunities for the environment health and safety market over the forecast period. Increasing focus on environmental impact can be seen from the rising international environmental bilateral and multilateral agreements across the globe. Growing public concerns about environmental issues over the last several decades have led to significant developments in laws concerning the environmental impact of organizations. The EHS services and software offer services to organizations to meet the standards established by ecological bodies such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act.

The features offered by the EHS software provide the emissions data to EPA's TRI-web interface. The stringent regulations established by the Environment Canada/CEPA, EPA/RCRA, and European Hazardous Waste Directive are expected to augment the demand for EHS software. In addition, OSHA announced the enforcement of new stringent incident recordkeeping norms. The new OSHA provisions require employers to submit the data on illness electronically. This is expected to improve the accuracy of incidents recorded without the fear of retaliation, which is anticipated to surge the demand for EHS software and solutions over the forecast period.

The European Union remained most active over the past decade because of the need to ensure a safe environment and worker rights within the EU, harmonized supranational approach to tackling a degrading environment, and the addition of member states. However, a spike in regulatory activity in Asia-Pacific and Central and South America is expected to create opportunities for EHS solution providers over the forecast period. Areas such as facility/technical safety, occupational health, emergency preparedness, air emissions, and HAZMAT management experienced a higher number of legislations in the past few years, which is expected to surge the demand for EHS solutions.

Regional Analysis

By region, the global environment health and safety market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Central and South America, and the Middle East and Africa.

North America dominated the market in 2021 and is estimated to reach an expected value of USD 41 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 8%. The North American market is boosted by manufacturing hubs such as Mexico and a significant number of major IT companies in the US and Canada. Awareness in the developed nations regarding sustainable growth and the importance of reducing environmental impact is expected to augment the demand for EHS services.

Europe is the second-largest market and is estimated to reach an expected value of USD 38 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 8.5%. The European market is witnessing rapid growth in adopting EHS services and software to phase out the current take-make-dispose model, maximize raw materials, and limit the amount of waste produced. EU-OSHA and European Environment Agency (EEA) formulated the laws concerning health, safety, consumer protection, and the protection of the environment. The stringent environmental regulations in Europe are likely to spur the demand for EHS software and services over the coming years.

Segmental Analysis

The global environment health and safety market is divided by product, application, end-user, and regions.

On the Basis of Product

By product, the global environment health and safety market is divided into EHS software and EHS services. The EHS services dominate the market and are estimated to reach an expected value of USD 124,540 million by 2030 at a CAGR of 8.3%. EHS services are the most extensive product segment, which includes services such as EHS compliance program development and implementation. The energy and mining industry is the key end-user of EHS services owing to the hazardous nature of the working environments. 

EHS services provide technical and legislative advice as well as location auditing to mining industries during drilling operations. Clients can also get help from EHS service vendors by detecting and reporting needed upgrades for improved efficiency with less ecological consequences. These service vendors also assist energy market enterprises in properly discharging industrial and nuclear waste. The appearance of innumerable chemical and pharmaceutical producers in Europe and the European Union's implementation of strict emission standards are expected to drive market growth for EHS services in this region during the predicted period.

On the Basis of Application

By application, the global environment health and safety market is divided into medical and pharmaceutical waste management, industrial waste management, wastewater management, and others. Industrial waste management dominates the market and is estimated to reach an expected value of USD 67,025 million by 2030 at a CAGR of 8.7%. The demand for EHS services will be primarily driven by increased pressure on industries to reduce waste and make processes more efficient. Industrial waste management is the most extensive application and is expected to witness significant growth due to strict international industrial waste, transportation, and disposal regulations.

The increasing number of accidents and diseases due to the removal of toxic materials is expected to drive the demand for EHS services for industrial waste management. The growing importance of this application in vital end-use verticals such as manufacturing, construction, petrochemicals, energy, and chemicals is likely to propel segment growth. Nuclear power plants require a very efficient disposal system due to the radioactive nature of the waste produced. EHS services and software offer customized solutions for tracking, storing, monitoring, transporting, and safely disposing of radiological materials.

On the Basis of End-User

By end-user, the global environment health and safety market is divided into chemicals and petrochemicals, energy and mining, healthcare, telecom and IT, construction, manufacturing, and others. Energy and mining dominate the market and are estimated to reach an expected value of USD 32,335 million by 2030 at a CAGR of 9.3%. 

In addition, market participants offer EHS services about occupational health and safety and employee safety. Due to OSHA norms, companies have become obligatory to maintain an electronic report of accidents and incidents occurring at the workplace. The increasing number of regulations about employee safety in the energy and mining sector is expected to boost the market's growth.

Impact of covid-19

COVID-19 has positive and negative market consequences, as carbon emissions have decreased globally due to the lockout. COVID-19's reduction in emissions is a short-term benefit. Still, when industries and enterprises attempt to recoup some of their financial losses in the first quarter of the year, carbon emissions will rise dramatically. COVID-19 had a negative impact on global recycling efforts. Countries, notably the United States, have halted or decreased recycling programs to focus on collecting additional domestic waste or because services have been disrupted by the virus.

Also, with industries slowly returning to normalcy following the COVID-19 outbreak, this shift in workplace health and safety is expected to increase due to mandatory social distancing and continuous personal care through sanitization to eliminate even the tiniest possibility of COVID-19 spread. COVID-19 has impacted various companies' revenues, and if the lockdown is lifted, companies will turn their attention to operations to make up for their losses.

Recent Developments

• January 2021- AECOM partnered with Conservation International and co-founded the Green-Gray Infrastructure Community of Practice (GGI COP). The GGI COP includes members from government, non-profit, private, and academic organizations in various sectors, including engineering, conservation, construction, and finance.
• December 2020- AECOM received a contract to upgrade the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP), a wastewater treatment plant in Carson, California. This contract focuses on upgrading to the pure oxygen production process, which, in turn, will result in water, energy, and maintenance cost savings.
• March 2020- ERM acquired M.J. Bradley & Associates, a specialist climate change energy and sustainability consulting company that offers regulatory advice and strategic policy on low carbon energy transition to electricity and natural gas sectors in conjunction with a focus on advanced transportation initiatives in North America. The acquisition provided a critical mass to ERM's low carbon economy transition and climate change offering to clients in North America.
• February 2020- Wolters Kluwer completed the acquisition of CGE Risk Management Solutions B.V. (CGE), a provider of risk management software. The CGE now operates a part of Wolters Kluwer's (EHS/ORM) software group, including Enablon and eVision.