5 Ways to increase your company’s EHS compliance
Finding efficient and effective ways to stay compliant with environment, health, and safety (EHS) compliance regulations can feel like a full-time job in itself. Keeping up with changing rules, regulations, and reporting procedures to keep your employees safe and stay compliant is daunting to say the least. That’s why it’s so important to prioritize your EHS compliance initiatives.
What are some smart, effective things you can do to increase your EHS compliance that aren’t costly and cumbersome?
1. Get everybody’s buy-in on EHS compliance.
Getting everyone on board with EHS compliance is the most important thing you can do as an EHS manager or coordinator. When everyone knows what EHS compliance is and how the rules and regulations protect them on the job, they’re far more likely to get on board. They can more easily work with you toward increasing compliance on paper, as well as the jobsite.
2. Walk the walk and talk the talk when it comes to EHS compliance.
This means creating a culture that doesn’t just tolerate EHS compliance rules and regulations but also values and respects them day in and day out. You set the tone, and after you get buy-in, the rest will follow. If you treat EHS compliance like a nuisance, so will everyone else. Instead, create a culture of safety that values everyone’s right to work in an environment that’s free of hazards.
3. Recognize your EHS safety leaders.
Have an employee or team that’s taking EHS compliance seriously? Taking the time to acknowledge and reward teams and team members who are taking safety and compliance seriously will pay off big in the long term because you’re fostering both leadership skills and a positive EHS compliance culture. Something as simple as a mention can go a long way toward encouraging your team to put health and safety compliance first.
4. Provide regularly occurring, timely, and topical EHS compliance training and materials.
The rules and regulations are always being updated, and your team should be updated on these, too. Employees know when you’re investing in them, and you’ll reap the rewards of this investment to the tune of lower turnover, higher retention, lower accident rates, and more. This is one area where collaborating with those who specialize in training and compliance can pay off in terms of time, efficiency, effectiveness, and money.
5. Measure what you treasure.
If EHS compliance is important to you, you’ll want to measure how well you’re performing. Want to understand the impact your initiatives are having, or need to know if a key metric has moved? Performing an EHS compliance audit at regular intervals will provide you with the key insights you need to make any needed changes and understand what’s going well.
EHS compliance can be improved in many ways, but the five above tips can help you do so in a cost-effective way.
