EHS compliance (environment, health, and safety compliance) is not an option. Failure to adhere to EHS regulations can impact the success of your company significantly. Penalties, fines, shutdowns, lawyers’ fees and damage to your company’s reputation are only some of the outcomes.

All too often the challenge for business is getting your hands on a copy of the legislation and then making head or tail of the main requirements. EHS compliance can leave managers scratching their heads, wondering what is mandatory.

EHS compliance is ever-changing and as the laws are amended or new ones made known, introducing a management system or retaining the services of seasoned professionals can help business stay up-to-date and on top of regulatory requirements.

1. Determine applicable EHS regulations

The responsibility for keeping up with changing regulations should be allocated to someone specific within your business. Consider laws that apply to you and your business. Then look at whether you actually understand the legal language or not, are you compliant wherever you operate? How will changes within the regulations affect your business?

2. Understanding business implications

EHS compliance is costly, where time and money are concerned. Identifying the relevant requirements, clearly understanding the applicability of those requirements and not missing key concerns is critical. Understanding definitions, contexts, even nuances and the practical implications of law is challenging for even trained EHS managers.

3. Retaining the proper resources

By building an overview of the goings on concerning EHS compliance in all the countries you operate in can help you understand how policies within these countries might influence regulations in the future. Operating procedures should be continuously reviewed because changes can happen at any time, without warning.

4. Training your employees

The vast majority of workplace accidents are avoidable. It is therefore essential that once all risks are identified a thorough training-needs-analysis is completed. With the relevant training requirements identified, a roll out of this training can be initiated. This roll out must then be recorded and documented in accordance with the relevant standards.

5. Establishing an ongoing compliance process

Compliance is ongoing. By integrating regulatory demands into standard operating procedures and assigning responsibilities to individuals, a business can create escalation procedures. These procedures can provide early warnings of non-compliance, training staff on what’s required is essential. This is where EHS management software can prove useful.

Robust regulatory EHS compliance means accurate analysis of your company’s requirements. Speak to us about achieving your goals for reporting compliance.