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EHS Laws
and Regulations Environmental and occupational health and safety laws and regulations are complex and often confusing. There are literally thousands of environmental safety and health laws and regulations developed and administered by a confusing array of national, state and local governmental agencies - both in the United States and abroad. In addition, there are hundreds of international standards and directives that may be considered "other requirements." Determining which of these legal and other requirements are applicable to your operations is often a difficult task. It is, however, a critical task. Failing to comply with a requirement may lead to substantial fines or other penalties. Complying with regulations that are not required may use resources that could be better spent elsewhere. When implementing an environmental or safety and health management system, compliance must be addressed as an integral part of your management system. Pursuant to ISO 14001, organizations are required to do the following: |
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- Establish a policy which includes a commitment to compliance with applicable legal and other requirements
- Establish, implement and maintain a procedure to identify applicable legal and other requirements
- Ensure that applicable legal and other requirements are taken into account in the management system
- Periodically evaluate the organization's compliance with the applicable legal and other requirements
- Report on the results of the compliance evaluation to Top Management
Four Steps to
Developing an Effective EHS Compliance Program
There are four steps to establishing an effective EHS Compliance Program:
- Developing and implementing a procedure for identifying your compliance requirements
- Developing processes to ensure those compliance obligations are met
- Developing and implementing a process for evaluating your compliance status
- Reporting to Top Management about your compliance status
Step 1 -- Identify your Legal and Other Requirements
Before you can address your legal and other requirements you need to know what they are.
How ENLAR Can Help
Preparation of a Site-Specific Compliance Guidebook
One requirement of ISO 14001 is that the company must develop a procedure to "identify and have access to legal and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, that are applicable to the environmental aspects of its activities, products or services."
ENLAR Site-Specific Compliance Guidebooks help meet this requirement. First, it identifies your legal requirements. Second, it sets out how each regulation can quickly and easily be accessed using paper, electronic and web-based resources. Finally, it will assist you in continuing to identify your compliance obligations on an on-going basis.
An ENLAR Guidebook will provide a concise and easy-to-understand summary of the environmental, safety and health regulations that actually apply to your organization
Contents of an ENLAR Site-Specific Compliance Guidebook
- List of Compliance Requirements by Subject Area
- Detailed Compliance Summaries for each Regulation
- Individually-Tailored Compliance Audit Checklist
- Information on Accessing Regulatory Requirements
- Contact Information for Regulatory Agencies
Step 2 - Develop your Compliance Program
Once you know what your legal requirements are, you can develop a compliance program to ensure that each requirement is addressed when and how it must be done. This may include:
- Completing and filing reports with environmental agencies
- Applying for licenses or permits
- Implementing product or workplace labeling
- Developing written plans or procedures
- Undertaking periodic inspection or sampling programs
How ENLAR Can Help
ENLAR can assist with preparation of required reports or permit applications, help you development written procedures and provide you with e-mail reminders of up-coming compliance requirements.
Step 3 Evaluate your Compliance Status
ISO 14001 requires that you develop a
procedure to periodically evaluate your compliance status. This procedure
needs to address who is going to do this, when and how often it is going
to be done and the process to be used. In addition, this procedure needs
to address other legal issues such as US EPA
Audit Policy.
How ENLAR can Help
ENLAR has assisted a number of organizations with compliance
evaluations. This includes researching difficult compliance questions,
assisting in developing evaluation tools such as audit checklists and
conducting compliance assessments and internal investigations.
Step 4: Report to Top Management
Top Management cannot make a commitment to compliance without being informed about what this means. ISO 14001 requires that one of the inputs to management review is information on the results of the compliance evaluations performed.
