Leverage Encamp to simplify, streamline, and standardize EHS compliance

Environmental compliance is an important component to EHS. Environmental safety goes beyond just the work site and workers; failures of environmental safety can impact the entirety of the ecosystem around them.

EHS compliance software can help organizations track their environmental training, compliance, deadlines, documents, alerts, and more — all of which ultimately means that fewer issues are missed, and that more problems are fixed before they become serious.

Today, EHS professionals need to use a wide array of technology to ensure that they are meeting environmental compliance. Regulations change frequently and differ based on location. Training has to be conducted and refreshed at intervals, and project safety has to be monitored and audited regularly. An EHS roles and responsibilities matrix can help organize a company’s efforts towards better health and safety, and companies can distribute an environmental health and safety PDF to employees.

But why does environmental health and safety often meet challenges?

Foremost, it can be expensive and difficult for a company to implement. Health and safety guidelines often have very strict requirements, and companies may feel pressured by changes within those requirements; they may not want to change what they have already been doing for some time. To counter this, EHS professionals need to be able to present options that are clearer, easier, and more affordable. With technology, EHS professionals can transition companies into better environmental habits without having to be disruptive. An EHS compliance checklist or environmental health and safety management system template can help.

Second, companies may be under time crunches, may be rushing through projects, and may not be able to get their environmental checks done. Employees may understand the proper environmental safety processes, but may skip past them because they are too busy. This, again, is an issue with implementation. Safety cannot be skipped; it’s of vital importance. But the best way to make sure that environmental safety is not skipped is to make it easier. The easier it is, the less likely employees are to try to brush past it.

EHS coordinators have a lot of work ahead of them when it comes to environmental and safety standards. But the role is so incredibly important that it becomes everyone’s responsibility to make sure that things aren’t being missed. With EHS platforms, it’s easier for all key stakeholders involved to make sure that standards of compliance are being met, and that any problems that are discovered are quickly addressed.

Key takeaways:

• Companies rarely want to cause environmental harm, but it can happen when companies are distracted or pressured.
• EHS software makes it easier for companies to track and reduce potential environmental harm, and keep track of regulations and compliance.
• Environmental safety is something that is the responsibility of everyone, and everyone in a company must be involved.

What is EHS?

What is EHS? EHS is the discipline of Environment, Health, and Safety. It is what ensures that work sites are not only safe for employees, but also safe for the environment. EHS awareness is incredibly important, especially as people become more aware of the potential hazards of a work site, and more aware of the rights workers have to protect themselves. Just decades ago, people may not have thought of the consequences of water run off on the environment, or the consequences of low vibration machinery on an employee’s hearing. Today, we know better, and we can institute things such as an EHS awareness program and an EHS improvement plan.

Every company is different. It’s not just construction work sites that need EHS. Modern businesses need it, too. Things like repetitive stress injury and back injury, for instance, can run rampant in an office. EHS objectives are to keep everyone safe, from employees to those who are around a work site.

Today, the EHS software market, and products like VelocityEHS, are creating new processes and strategies for EHS management. Through technology, companies are able to better track the potential health and environmental effects of work. Health and safety software for small businesses makes it possible for small businesses to track environmental and safety concerns on a level they never could before. And EHS software pricing is often tiered to company size, so scalability is available.

Companies are today bringing awareness to EHS services because it’s such a fast-growing discipline. It impacts companies worldwide, as there is a global push for better employee safety and better environmental compliance. Today, environmental regulations are changing quite fast, and companies need to change with them. More and more, we’re discovering potential negative effects for the equipment and technology we use, and these potentially negative effects need to be managed by the right health standards.

EHS professionals, consultants, and internal teams can use new EHS platforms to track compliance, training, regulations, and more. Documentations related to environmental issues, safety issues, worker alerts,and more can all be placed in a singular, consolidated dashboard system, and can be addressed by those who are empowered to act upon the information.

As companies are able to further improve their EHS, they will also be able to improve the comfort and productivity of their employees.

Key takeaways:

• Environment, Health, and Safety have always been important, but we are only now seeing how important it is for work sites to maintain their safety.
• As businesses grow, it can become difficult for companies to manage their EHS. Platforms today can help.
• Enhanced regulations around the globe, and new scientific understandings, are leading the way for widespread growth in EHS.

OSHA

Environment, Safety and Health are the foundational building-blocks of OSHA. At its core, EHS is the study of environmental protection and safety within a working environment. EHS delivers practical methods and processes by which safety can be achieved, and consequently is a necessity for OSHA compliance. OSHA’s training, standards, and regulations are all supported by EHS training.

Compliance requirements, in terms of environmental safety protocols, worker equipment, and worker processes, can be improved upon through EHS insight.

To properly maintain safety and management systems, organizations can use EHS software and EHS safety platforms. Systems such as SAP EHS can track EHS requirements for contractors, factories, construction companies, industrial applications, and more.  A complete EHS management system can be used to alert EHS professionals regarding issues that might arise, compliance deadlines, training needs, and more.

Because EHS and OSHA are both complex, technology can be used to help a company track its requirements and scale its operations. Companies often find themselves passing by on important environmental and safety standards, due to rushed work or a lack of administrative time.

Key takeaways:

• OSHA and EHS have a very close relationship; through EHS, companies are able to achieve their OSHA standards.
• Environment, safety, and health form the building blocks of what keeps a work site safe, both for employees and the environment.
• EHS platforms can be leveraged by safety managers and consultants to provide better levels of safety compliance without additional work hours.

US Compliance

The US has compliance, regulations, and policies that occur both on a federal and state level, which is something that companies need to be able to track. EHS policy must be reported to EHS, the EHS department, and an EHS company or EHS consultancy can help an organization ensure that they are compliant with current regulatory standards. Many organizations today may need to involve themselves with an EHS environmental study or an EHS improvement plan, because these regulations change: Companies are given time to adjust and to implement new processes.

Many EHS programs examples will overlap with things like OSHA training. Depending on the organization, EHS standards might be quite high (such as construction) or fairly low (office work). But EHS compliance services are critical, both in terms of EHS legal compliance (which can cost a company a significant amount of money) and general US regulatory compliance (which could potentially get a company shutdown).

Because issues of compliance can be so complex, there are compliance corp services that can audit companies and pinpoint issues. Compliance consultants USA often use EHS software solutions and platforms to help them track compliance over the company, and can alert the company as to issues as they arise. EHS compliance services can be scaled to a company, so companies of any size (whether small businesses or large enterprises) can engage.

US compliance is not more strict than other areas, but it is changing faster than many other countries. This can leave companies feeling as though they are being left behind, or they are struggling to meet regulations. Often, all they need is better technology and a plan.

While compliance can be tricky to achieve, it’s ultimately beneficial not only to the environment and employees, but the company itself. Fewer environment, health, and safety issues means lower overhead for the company, smoother operations, happier employees, and a better world for everyone. But it is understood that achieving this compliance can be an issue, especially for companies that need to change significant processes and infrastructure. This is where EHS professionals and teams can help.

Key takeaways:

• While US compliance isn’t necessarily more rigorous, it can be more complex because both federal and state guidelines need to be followed.
• US compliance and regulation issues are changing very quickly, and companies may find that they are hard-pressed to keep up.
• Consultancies and EHS corporations can help companies with the technology they need to achieve better management of their EHS.

EHS Requirements

Companies today are improving their awareness and compliance to meet goals, objectives, and standards. EHS requirements in USA have grown, and create a standard by which companies can know that they are taking care of their employees and the environment properly. Small businesses, in particular, have always had issues of compliance because they simply don’t have the resources available to larger enterprises. Small businesses may not have the time available, the administrative power, or the technology that they need to achieve full compliance.

But this is changing.

New technology is making it easier for SMBs to achieve better EHS reporting, to follow an EHS improvement plan, and properly meet EHS objectives. Even small businesses can now follow EHS programs examples, review EHS standards PDF documentation, and follow a simple environmental health and safety management system template. This is because EHS platforms, and EHS technology, is growing in adoption. EHS technology can be scaled and tiered in price to a company’s size, and makes it easier for the company to leverage their existing work hours to achieve compliance. A compliance corp can help audit a company and provide actionable measures it should take.

What’s the difference between EHS vs OHS or occupational health and safety? EHS is how OHS compliance is developed. OHS compliance, regulations, and training are meant to improve occupational health and safety. But EHS, environment, health, and safety protocols, are how you get there.

EHS forms the basis of the processes and requirements that ensure that your organization meets health and environment standards. Without EHS, you may have goals for your organization’s health and safety, but you may not be able to get there. Still, both EHS and OSHA requirements can be complicated and are often growing more complicated for a business, so businesses often do need some extra help to maintain their operations effectively while still improving their levels of compliance.

Small businesses need the ability to improve their environmental health and safety without increasing their overhead. SMBs shouldn’t feel that their compliance and their regulatory standards are preventing them from scaling or surviving. With the help of technology and knowledgeable professionals, companies today are able to grow unfettered while till maintaining their regulatory compliance.

Key takeaways:

• In the US, small businesses, in particular, can find it difficult to adapt to the changing requirements of environmental health and safety.
• Environmental Health and Safety and Occupational Health and Safety are both inextricably linked and work together to protect a company and its employees.
• Technology, and expert specialists, can help SMBs improve upon their regulatory compliance without having to sacrifice their productivity.‍

If you’re interested in how Encamp helps EHS managers deliver consistent processes and first-rate compliance programs, request a demo.