You can’t manage what
you can’t see. Poorly Managed
Environmental Inspections like Stormwater / Air Quality / SPCC, Action Items, Documents and Maps = HEAVY FINES &
PENALTIES
Where are your
Stormwater or SPCC Plan inspections? Do
you have instant access to them so that you can see if they are even being
done? Do reports contain open and closed
action items by dates? Are these plans accessible to anyone that needs to view
them? Do they contain current regulations,
permits, proper certifications or other necessary items? Are specific components like maps and
specifications being properly updated?
These are questions that industry professionals are
presently considering as a growing emphasis is
placed on environmental compliance and
enforcement in our communities nationwide.
Ready mix batch plants and other related concrete production facilities
take no exception to this. For example, most plants and production facilities
have to manage a Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan due to
the qualifying amount of fuel, oils, and other petroleum related products used
on site. As well, a Stormwater Pollution
Prevention Plan is required by the Federal Clean Water Act on most concrete
production facilities that have exposures to rain or snow melt. Federal, state, and or local regulations are
very specific when it comes to how these plans are managed. After all, these plans become the “court
documents” in the case of a regulatory review, derived of self-monitoring
documentation that is required by their complicated regulations. As inspection and documentation demands
within these regulations grow more complex, coupled with both ever increasing
regulatory oversight and a social consciousness of environmental concerns that
has everyone under the microscope, companies are desperately trying to solve
how to best meet them to stay compliant and avoid the negative publicity,
costly fines and penalties that are on the rise. All of this, while trying to build
profits. Does this current state of
affairs not beg the simple questions of how and what to do?
So, what is the best
way to efficiently manage these plans legally with their ongoing inspections,
documentation and reporting?
While many environmental regulations can seem burdensome, the
regulations also allow some common sense methods for achieving compliance. One
such method allows technology to be implemented to perform inspections with
electronic signatures, creating and communicating action items, electronically
updating maps and the overall electronic management of all environmental documentation,
management, and communication. Company management personnel have been trying to
figure out the best way to perform and manage components within these
regulations on site for quite some time. Mailboxes, lockboxes, spreadsheets, handwritten
checklists/notes, and other methods have been painstakingly used to try and
meet these regulations. However, as you
can imagine, inspections are often missed, action items are not noted or
communicated, and maps/plans commonly go unkept. In some instances, these federal
documents are even lost, vandalized, stolen, mismanaged, weathered, and
ultimately not compliant. Company management
personnel often struggle when emphasizing the need for continual upkeep and
management of the SWPPP and SPCC, especially if the only way to see if plans
are being managed and inspections are being performed is to actually drive to
the site to view what is going on! When this is the case, compliance
accountability, due to the lack of accessibility and verification, takes a dive
while liability risk skyrockets; thus becoming a major problem for any company,
let alone companies with multiple regulated facilities and operations. And, it appears that the federal government
is ready to require states and local municipalities to manage programs like the
NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System – Federal Clean Water act)
electronically. This would certainly
encourage anyone wanting to comply to utilize technology to save everyone money
and time in the process.
Online software that will enable companies to perform
inspections, document action items, update maps and other documents while
managing it all electronically is more sustainable and provides a much better way
to manage an environmental program more efficiently and make it compliant. This concept is the very beneficial essence
of implementing technology. As long as
the way to electronically access updated plans, completed
inspections, action items, and documents are posted with the permit, your site
is complying with the law. The benefits of utilizing technology for electronic management
are obvious. Never has there been more
incentive for the implementation of technology to enhance operational processes
than this day and age where everyone has a smartphone, tablet, or access
to a laptop or computer. Three ring binders and hard copies of the plans, inspections,
and all that other stuff are a thing of the past. Electronic performance and management
of all things environmental is the process of the future, no different than our
online banking accounts or filing our taxes electronically. This increases
profitability, provides more flexibility, and drives improved compliance.
Consider these
advantages when utilizing technology to manage your Environmental (Stormwater, SPCC, Air Quality) Program
- · Correct Inspection form for each permit can be utilized, managed, and amended when needed
- · Inspections and management on any device…creating a paperless process – saves time and cost
- · Correct Inspection frequency for each permit can be set up
- · Adaptable inspection forms in real time when changes need to occur
- · Directives on inspection forms and action prompts can help ground operations comply
- · Drive action items electronically for communication and completion
- · Create, amend, update key maps/drawings, etc. when needed
- · Platform for all compliance documents-readable, accessible, retainable
- · training modules available 24-7-operators access when it is best for them
- · Run Reports for Quality Control and Employee evaluations
- · Quantify action items by open and closed dates-run key reports to properly manage this cycle
- · Closes communication Gaps of non-compliance from ground operations to management
- · “the eye in the sky”-you can’t properly manage what you can’t see
- · Protect company and personal risk management-closes compliance gaps in any program
Company interests are
better protected with electronic management as well. It is one thing to say, “These things are
important”; but where companies invest in environmental management technology
which provides a consistent process with tools and resources that often save
time and money, operational efforts to comply with the regulations can finally
be achieved and everyone wins when this is the case.
Stormwater, Air Quality, SPCC Inspections and Document Management Software - complianceGO
User Friendly. Expert Results. Low Cost. www.compliancego.com
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