Mary Foley featured on Safeopedia’s Safeonomics podcast

Bridging EHS and financial reporting in a changing regulatory landscape

With nearly 30 years of experience spanning, environmental engineering consulting, ISO certification, EHS SaaS and global EHS strategy, Mary offers a practical and forward-looking perspective on why EHS data is rapidly becoming essential to financial performance, investor confidence, and long-term business resilience. term business resilience.

During the conversation, Mary and host Scott Cuthbert explore the forces driving this shift and what organizations — from multinationals to midsized suppliers — need to understand right now.

Why Safety Data is now on the radar of financial auditors

New global standards such as IFRS S1 and S2, and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), signal a major shift in how nonfinancial risks are assessed. 

These standards increasingly identify workforce health and safety as a critical risk factor.
Mary notes that safety is no longer viewed exclusively as an operational issue — it is now recognized as a financial and strategic business indicator. 

Key points discussed: 

• Safety metrics can influence investor decisions, capital allocation, and company valuations 

• Workforce health and safety is now considered a material topic across specific industry sectors 

• Reporting expectations will extend beyond large corporations, cascading deep into supply chains 

What this means for organizations of all sizes

While early reporting requirements often target large multinationals, Mary emphasizes that midsized organizations should not underestimate the impact, especially if they form part of larger companies’ value and supply chains.
As large companies face new transparency obligations, they will increasingly require credible, auditable safety data from their suppliers and partners.  

This presents both challenges and opportunities: 

Challenges 

• Higher expectations for data accuracy and transparency 

• More scrutiny of safety management systems 

• Increased demand for evidence-based risk assessmentsbased risk assessments 

Opportunities 

• Strong health and safety performance becomes a competitive advantage 

• Suppliers with credible reporting can potentially win more contracts 

• EHS leaders gain new influence in strategic decision making making 

Heat stress, remote work, and expanding duty of care

Mary also discusses how shifting work patterns and climate conditions are forcing companies to rethink traditional assumptions about risk.
Key emerging issues include: 

• The rise of heat stress as a climate related operational and financial risklinked operational and financial risk 

• Expanded expectations around remote worker safety, including homebased employees and associated risk factors based risk factors 

• A growing focus on the broader “S” in ESG — including worker wellbeing and workplace conditions 

These considerations are already shaping regulatory expectations in regions such as Australia and are likely to gain traction globally as organizations adapt to new risk profiles. 

Turning compliance into strategic value

A central theme of the episode is how these trends give EHS leaders an unprecedented opportunity to elevate their work. 

Mary explains that standards such as IFRS S1/S2 and CSRD shine a new spotlight on: 

• Safety metrics 

• Risk management practices 

• Operational resilience 

• Workforce wellbeing 

This means EHS teams can now use reporting requirements to: 

• Build stronger business cases 

• Secure budget for systems, training, and staffing 

• Engage CFOs and finance teams using shared language 

• Demonstrate the strategic value of their function 

“Safety professionals have been doing this work for years,” Mary notes. “Now they have the opportunity to show its impact at a strategic level.” 

How companies can prepare: start with a gap analysis

Mary recommends beginning with a gap analysis to understand how existing safety data, systems, and processes align with emerging expectations. 

Organizations should evaluate: 

• Current EHS metrics and data quality 

• Management systems (e.g. ISO 45001) and governance structures 

• Preparedness for transparency and audit level scrutiny level scrutiny 

• Internal collaboration between EHS, finance, sustainability, procurement and operations 

For companies already implementing structured EHS management systems, Mary notes that they are “well ahead of the curve” in meeting these new requirements.