{"id":90,"date":"2012-07-05T09:26:30","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T09:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ehscsi.com\/?p=90"},"modified":"2017-12-10T23:21:27","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T04:21:27","slug":"the-abcs-of-ehs-compliance-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/05\/the-abcs-of-ehs-compliance-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"The ABCs of EHS Compliance–Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part One of The ABCs of EHS Compliance <\/em><\/a>discussed <\/em>the role of an environmental, health & safety (EHS) Professional.\u00a0 \u00a0This article will review where to begin when implementing an EHS program or when improving an existing program.\u00a0\u00a0 EHS is a broad field that \"\"<\/a>encompasses many areas, a compliance evaluation or audit often reveals issues in a variety of these areas.\u00a0 How, then, does a management team along with their EHS professionals determine where to begin in implementing an EHS program?<\/p>\n

In our approach a facility walk-through is the first step, this ensures an understanding of the processes within facility and also assists in identification of the applicable regulations.\u00a0 During the walk-through the EHS professional(s) can begin identifying areas that appear deficient and design probing questions to clarifying how the business operates.\u00a0 Many believe that document review is where most time should be spent, however this approach does not truly assess the compliance of the business operations; company documents often indicate the performance of tasks that are never actually completed.\u00a0 Physical observation of the operations and comparison with required standards is the truest measure of compliance.<\/p>\n

Following a thorough review of the operations a list of regulatory requirements and\/or compliance gaps can be created.\u00a0\u00a0 Depending upon the complexity of the facility this list may be very extensive and begets the question \u201cwhere do we begin?\u201d A prioritization matrix can assist with ranking the non-compliances and in determining which to first address.\u00a0 \u00a0A prioritization matrix is the use of a systematic process of ranking and has a diverse spectrum of application; in this case, it will be applied to the regulatory non-compliances resulting from the walk-through. \u00a0A number of criteria can be utilized for ranking and each is weighted based on its importance; qualifiers often include, but are not limited to, the following:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Frequency of the non-compliant activity. \u00a0How often is this activity performed throughout the departments within the operations?<\/li>\n
  2. Severity of potential harm in which the non-compliance may result.\u00a0 Are there actual or potential negative impacts to the environment, hazards to the employees or external personnel associated with this non-compliance?<\/li>\n
  3. Resource Requirements.\u00a0 Does the facility have the resources or the ability to acquire the resources needed to address the non-compliance?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    A business specific list of qualifiers can be produced through brainstorming with a cross-functional team of department representatives; this approach is highly recommended for its collaborative benefits.\u00a0 Alternatively, the EHS Professional(s) can create a list based on their knowledge of facility operations.\u00a0 Once the non-compliances have been rated they can be ranked based on their priority scores\u2014those with the highest rating typically are the non-compliances with the greatest risk for the facility. \u00a0 This matrix will identify a starting point in implementing a new program or in developing improvements in an established system.\u00a0 \u00a0Its outcome will provide the framework for a mitigation plan in a systematic and cohesive manner.<\/p>\n

    Interested in scheduling a compliance assessment?\u00a0 Contact us today<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Part One of The ABCs of EHS Compliance discussed the role of an environmental, health & safety (EHS) Professional.\u00a0 \u00a0This article will review where to begin when implementing an EHS program or when improving an existing program.\u00a0\u00a0 EHS is a broad field that encompasses many areas, a compliance evaluation or audit often reveals issues in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[48,11,26,52,42,51,43,50,54,49,53],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ehs-compliance","tag-compliance-audit","tag-ehs","tag-ehs-professional","tag-environmental-impacts","tag-epa","tag-non-compliance","tag-osha","tag-prioritization-matrix","tag-ranking","tag-regulatory-requirements","tag-safety-hazards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}