We live in a complicated world at a complicated time.
While everyone from farmers and manufacturing company owners at one time had to think very little about the products they used and how they disposed of them, these reckless practices of the past are now closely scrutinized. And while it may seem that today’s regulations go too far and mandate and check every little thing, it is difficult to argue with statistics that show the unsafe water, air, and soil conditions that resulted from years of farming and manufacturing practices going unchecked.
Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) management and inspection software is designed to help companies and agencies of all sizes meet established environmental, health and safety goals. Although EHS compliance needs may differ from one industry to the next, the main objectives of any kind of EHS safety compliance software must focus on the same things:
- ensure compliance with the rules and regulations of the EHS.
- minimize risk for the employees, the public, and the employer.
The best programs offer EHS auditing software that allows companies and individuals to manage their compliance with location specific regulations of the entire alphabetical soup of governmental agencies, including: Environmental Health and Safety, Environmental Protection Agency, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Through the use of detailed company policies as well as scheduled audits and routine inspections, every company must be able to test and to certify that they are following hundreds of very specific rules and guideline. And while many companies have an audit department to manage their safety and compliance procedures, the first thing that these departments do is make sure that they have the newest updates to the best EHS software. The days of manually managing these test and inspections are long gone. The reality requires sophisticated and updated inspection software to manage, record, and track the required safety tests and screens.
Environmental Regulatory Compliance Inspection Software Helps Companies Track Their Procedures
Using an EHS compliance system to help track the required safety tests and their results is a time saving approach. Although few companies attempt to measure the cost of the technology and manpower that is needed for the required testing, access to computer generated reports means that any money or time spent is not wasted. The latest research indicates that only 35% of executives say their companies have quantified, put into a dollar amount, the potential impact of environmental and social regulation on their businesses. The costs and the benefits are difficult to translate into monetary values. The mere fact that the testing and the reporting are mandated by government agencies may be why costs are not tabulated.
When every company or individual is required to do the same testing, it often does not serve a purpose to put a price tag on these procedures. Even if the whole cost is not often calculated, the one item that the most successful companies are making sure to track and budget for every year is the latest updates to the inspection software that they use. The option of updating to cloud-based enterprise compliance solutions, however, may make the sharing and tabulating of this information and the costs more manageable in the future.
In addition to the health and environmental benefits of many of the required regulations, companies can see, even if they do not measure, the public relations benefits. In a time when more and more consumers are concerned about sustainability issues, companies that can easily produce a proven safety record can see the benefit of a community that appreciates these environmental measures. For instance, 76% of executives indicate that sustainability contributes positively to long term shareholder value. Additionally, 50% of these same executives see short-term value as well.
It is difficult to think back to the times when consumers did not question the safety and environmental practices of the companies that produced the products that are used on a daily basis. The reality of companies understanding their responsibility to the safety of their workers, their consumers, and their environment continues to grow. In spite of this realization, however, progress is still needed. The fact that 45% of employees don’t feel comfortable pointing out potentially unsafe behaviors to their peers or supervisors is an indicator that more awareness is needed.