Environmental health and safety (EHS) compliance is inevitable regardless of your industry. As a company owner, you have to ensure the health and safety of your employees in the workplace while protecting the environment. Identifying the EHS requirements and implementing them in your workplace can be challenging, especially when you don’t have enough know-how for these tasks. That is where EHS consulting comes in.
Implementing an EHS software is one thing, and compliance doesn’t end there. You will need support and upgrades over time, and an EHS consultant can help you achieve that. Here are some cases when engaging one is the best decision.
You don’t have sufficient knowledge of EHS.
Expertise is the greatest benefit for outsourcing EHS support. Consultants such as the Cornerstone EHS work with many vendors and are well-positioned to advise you regarding safety compliance solutions and environmental health. Combined with your EHS department, you are off to a good start.
You need regulatory knowledge.
Environmental health and safety regulations are subject to changes, and a dynamic changing environment characterizes them. That means you have to stay updated with industrial, local, and global EHS regulations to ensure compliance, and it can be quite a challenge. You may require professional support to meet the changing standards, which is where EHS consulting comes in.
You have a tight timescale.
Another scenario when the help of an EHS consultant is inevitable is when you are under tight timescales to implement a specific compliance software. For instance, your contract has expired, or the provider has increased the cost, and you want to integrate a new one.
An EHS consultant significantly minimizes the planning time when working within a restricted timeline. It may be challenging for your EHS department to prepare for the common pitfalls within a short timeline, so the expertise of a third party is invaluable.
You don’t have a specialized EHS department.
If you have a small company, you may not have the resources to maintain an in-house EHS department. EHS consulting brings in the much-needed expertise in-house, even though temporary. That means you can focus on the critical aspects of running your company while an EHS consultant handles the EHS compliance.
As a small business, you are also preparing for growth, and an expert with in-depth knowledge and experience is better positioned to help you meet the EHS requirements and fulfill your future needs.
The software implementation process is complicated.
EHS consultants also provide the much-needed support for training and implementing software such as safety data sheet systems. The implementation process can be complicated even if you have a dedicated EHS team and involves a lot of lengthy stages, and an EHS consultant may be a valuable addition to help your team implement the software successfully.
You need to translate your needs into technical features
You may have an idea about what you want don’t know how to say it technically. In this case, an IT-savvy EHS consultant can ensure that your software vendor delivers the needed functionalities. Since they speak the language of both parties, they can facilitate a smooth relationship between your company and the vendors.