How EHS Software paves the way to environmental compliance within large organizations.
Environmental compliance teams within large organizations are tasked with tracking complex regulatory changes, maintaining accurate records, and ensuring workplace safety across multiple locations. These tasks have been typically managed through the use of in-house tools or spreadsheets and heavily manual processes. However, these outdated practices are no longer viable for large organizations and often lead to unnecessary headache, stress, and non-compliance.
Manual processes often lead to error-prone, inconsistent data, missed compliance deadlines, and hefty fines. This is especially true for large organizations managing several locations, all of which having their own unique set of environmental compliance challenges.
True SaaS EHS software allows organizations to break free from these outdated methods and empower their teams with one, easy-to-use platform, equipped with automated tasks and processes, regulatory tracking, and enhanced analytics tools.
Here are three ways EHS software can solve some of the biggest environmental compliance challenges large organizations face.
1. Variability Among Multiple Locations
Large organizations with multiple locations face different compliance requirements based on their jurisdiction and location.
Retail Storage Tank Example
A major retailer has 500 locations scheduled for remodeling in a single year. They do not have compliance software, so they automatically replace tanks with a larger model even though each site has different size requirements. Doing so unfortunately leads to unnecessary tank upgrades and wasted costs that could have been avoided.
By using compliance software, the EHS team could have provided data to the remodel team and reveal historical tank usage information. Rather than blindly upgrading all tanks, the retailer could have made a data-driven, informed decision about how to proceed, saving the company a significant amount in costs.
Read how Cority helped a top retailer save millions with EHS software: Case Study: Top Retailer Saves Millions in EHS Program Costs
2. Poor Data Collection and Quality
Relying on paper data collection, email, and individual spreadsheets makes for a cumbersome and error-prone tracking process. One that often leads to poor data quality with missing information and documentation. Without a central, in-house data repository, work is often duplicated, resulting in hours of wasted labor. The lack of transparency also becomes an issue when teams across sites don’t have access to full data sets, especially when a regulator is on-site and asking to see compliance records.
Storm Water Example
A company tracking storm water process management is relying on spreadsheets, email, and eight different contractor websites to obtain accurate records. Since the company does not utilize compliance software, they spend countless hours digging through emails to determine what work occurred at each facility, and even discovers that the same work order was approved multiple times.
By using compliance software, the contractors could have identified work orders through the software, allowing the company to track, approve, and review the work in one centralized location. Software could have also created defined workflows for storm water, ensured accurate record keeping, and enhanced visibility to inspection requirements for the contractors
3. Incomplete Reporting and Analysis
Beyond data collection, many large organizations struggle to conduct an in-depth analysis across their environmental programs without a centralized data source. Multiple data sources often span the company, making it difficult to track thousands of permits and certifications as well as the various environmental programs, such as waste, storm water, and grease management. Data discrepancies become a real issue without a sophisticated tracking system, leaving organizations to make important decisions about their operations without adequate and accurate data.
With compliance software, EHS teams can quickly look up service data, generate key program metrics, and proactively identify seasonal trends and estimate program usage around specified dates. Software can even create reporting reminders to avoid noncompliance penalties, including fines, additional obligations, and negative media attention that comes with missed deadlines.
With the right software, large organizations can easily manage site variability from a single source, access better operational data, and work more efficiently when analyzing data and creating reports. Digitizing processes and maintaining critical EHS data in cloud-based software helps reduce risk, streamline operations, and lower costs for overall improved compliance performance.
Final Thoughts
Keeping up with constant regulatory change and proactively identifying issues before they become incidents isn’t easy. However, utilizing true SaaS EHS software, like CorityOne, can help compliance teams streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and reduce costs.
