Use environmental management software. Specifically, look for software that is designed to handle high-volume environmental data. 

Stay on top of new environmental regulations. Follow industry outlets. 

Track all your compliance deadlines and activities in a centralized calendar. That way you'll know exactly what's due when and who's working on it. 

Shift your focus from compliance to risk. Companies can no longer rely on regulations to keep prevent an incident and meet stakeholder demands. Read more about how to make the shift from compliance to risk in this article. 

Train your team. Make sure employees at every level know which requirements they must follow, and what they need to report. 

Use a mobile app. Mobile apps make it possible to keep tabs on compliance tasks and activities when you're on the go.  

Automate time-consuming tasks. Automations available in EHS (Environment, Health, Safety) software can alert you to upcoming deadlines, help you follow up on compliance tasks, and make sure activities don't slip through the cracks. 

Take advantage of dashboards. Dashboards help you quickly visualize and drill down on trends and patterns in your data. 

Maintain a risk register. Risk registers use a standardized scoring system to rank enterprise risks across thousands of observations. The most successful companies we've seen use a risk register to determine which risks are most likely to occur and most significant and prioritize their risk management activities. 

 

1. Look at the data

If regulatory compliance was working, you'd expect to see safety and environmental performance steadily improving.   

In reality, the opposite is true. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of deaths per 100,000 workers has been steadily increasing over the last decade. And the EPA reports that US greenhouse gas emissions have also increased 7.4% from 1990-2014. 

Don't take our word for it. Look at your own near miss, incident, accident, and injury rates. Look at your own air, water, waste, and GHG emissions data. If you're still struggling to achieve your safety and environmental performance goals, it's time to start focusing on risk rather than just compliance. 

Reviewing your data serves as more than just a reality check -- it will be important as you begin to identify new performance indicators. 

2. Get buy in within your organization

Of course, you can't make this shift alone. You'll need to get senior management and employees in your organization on board. 

Says Victor Lipman, a leadership expert, in Forbes: "It's easy to think of risk as a niche issue residing in some distant specialized area. It's not. It's everyone's issue."

The good news is that organizational risks are already on most executives' radars. In fact, Forbes Insight and Deloitte found that 26% of executives think the responsibility for overall risk management belongs to the chief executive officer, while 23% think the responsibility lies with the CFO or treasurer. 

One simple way to help your boss and teammates make the jump from compliance to risk is by reframing the conversation around your EHS activities. Next time you're tempted to say "OSHA says", think about how you can approach the conversation from a risk management perspective.   

3. Choose a risk management system

The good news is that there are many risk management tools available that you can leverage to your advantage.

These tools can help with identifying risks, creating a risk register, developing mitigation plans, and more. Some are separate software systems, while others integrate compliance, risk, and sustainability. 

The tool that's right for your organization depends on your unique goals, needs, and resources, so you'll need to spend some time learning which type of software is right for your team.

4. Identify new performance indicators

In the past, EHS departments have relied heavily on lagging indicators like accidents, injuries, or days away from work to measure and report on their organization's performance after the fact.

Shifting to a risk management mindset means recognizing that you have the power to identify problems and correct them long before OSHA or the EPA does. 

In order to do that, you'll need to identify new performance indicators that can help predict and prevent future incidents. 

We recently wrote about the 6 leading indicators that significantly lowered recordable injuries — regardless of company size or type of work. These included new hire orientation, daily toolbox talks, and near-miss tracking. 

5. Learn 

There are so many resources available to help you make the shift from compliance to risk, even if you're not a risk specialist by trade. 

 

1. Make sure the basics are in place.

Identify your environmental risks and legal obligations, and then implement policies and procedures to manage those risks. Organizations have a wide variety of options for developing risk registers and legal registers. Some will use a DIY approach and develop registered registers using an excel spreadsheet, others may prefer an off-the-shelf product or an entire EMS software product with a dashboard that lets you know when the law has changed and what to do. If you're not sure where to start, seek advice from lawyers or environmental consultants. Check out my recent presentation for some tips on where to find the relevant laws, if you are just starting out.

2. Educate your people!

One can never overestimate how essential this is. Training for your staff, from site staff to executives and board members is an integral part of effective environmental compliance. It is also likely to be seen by EPAs as a key aspect of legal defense (where applicable) as it helps to prove that "all reasonable steps have been taken" or "all appropriate measures have been taken" to prevent the commission of an environmental offense. In my experience, most incidents occur because a webmaster did not know the rules. The classic examples are that they did not know that “they should not have turned off this pump” or “that it was the kind of incident that should have been reported to the administration.” Environmental courts are making increasingly critical comments about training (or lack thereof). proper training) and so is an area to look out for.

3. Do not bury your head in the sand.

Deal with non-compliance and risk through a sensible compliance strategy. An experienced lawyer can help you minimize the risk, especially when working on matters that require outside counsel, in accordance with the doctrine of legal professional privilege, or by proposing the use of a lawful voluntary environmental review procedure.