Developing and maintaining an effective environmental, health, and safety (EHS) program continues to be a challenge for many organizations. Some of the challenges we hear from our clients include:
- They can’t afford to hire a full-time EHS professional.
- Core managers do not have the knowledge or time to handle EHS compliance.
- EHS professionals are constantly leaving and finding a replacement is expensive and creates gaps in compliance and a start over mentality.
- One EHS professional cannot address all of the compliance programs required to avoid OSHA, EPA, DOT and insurance inspections, complaints, fines and claims.
- EHS professionals are usually more experienced in either environmental or OSHA compliance and cannot always address all of the regulatory programs of the organization.
- The person we can afford is new to the working world and does not have the management experience needed to address the many facets of implementing sustainable programs.
- Document retention processes are not put in place causing gaps during turnover and inspections.
- There is no formal EHS management system, plan or timeline to ensure ongoing compliance and key programs don’t get completed or integrated properly.
If any of these challenges are those faced by your organization, partnering with an EHS consulting firm may be a beneficial alternative to hiring more EHS staff. A partnership can cover all of your EHS program needs or can be used to supplement an internal professional’s activities by taking on the environmental compliance, OSHA compliance or training needs. Each program should be tailored to the needs of the organization and be flexible as programs need’s grow or contract.
CMI has perfected this process and supports organizations of all sectors and sizes. Many have no EHS professionals on staff and we become their EHS management team for less that it would cost to hire someone. We also support organization who have EHS professionals on staff and fill gaps in areas where they are too busy or do not have the knowledge to ensure compliance. We have many partners where we act as the EHS training team which allows others to focus on day-to-day compliance activities. Many of our partners are larger organizations with numerous facilities around the country with EHS Coordinator assigned to be responsible for implementing the corporate EHS policies. In this type of partnership, we serve as the corporate EHS director to ensure consistent implementation of EHS programs across all facilities. We become a mentor and resource to each coordinator to help them address implementation challenges and share best practices and we provide ongoing progress reports to executives to ensure they have the data they need to make decisions.
We begin each partnership by conducting an assessment to identify compliance requirements and gaps and then prioritize what support would be most valuable to the organization. We work with each partner to develop a customized strategic plan and upon approval are responsible for driving the program forward in a cost-effective manner. Our team is trained to seamlessly integrate into the organization and works collaboratively with management to plan and implement programs and ensure effective communication and feedback processes are in place. We continually evaluate ways to improve EHS performance and provide savings.
Our team becomes an extension of your management team and will work to reduce the overall cost of EHS by ensuring that each program is customized to operational needs and delivered in a sustainable manner. Activities such as risk assessments, policy improvements and engaging educational programs are planned and managed by a dedicated partnership manager who is a senior EHS professional. The partnership manager will pull from our deep talent pool to ensure each program’s need is appropriately addressed in a cost effective and highly specialized manner. This unique service delivery process ensures that each organization has a team of EHS professionals that are knowledgeable about the organization so that if one person is unavailable, you always have someone at your fingertips who can assist.
There are many benefits to a partnership which include:
- Better control of operating costs by our fixed monthly fee structure
- Access to the expertise of a full team of EHS technical and training professionals
- Improved focus on core business when operational managers are able to focus on primary roles
- Better results achieved during restructuring
- Ease of hiring, integrating and managing the EHS function
- Reduction in associated human resource costs and liabilities
- Reduced risk for fines and penalties
- Flexibility to address long and short-term needs
If you’re looking for a more effective way to manage your EHS programs, reach out to learn more about how a CMI partnership program could improve your organizational performance.
Written by Michael Schneider, CSP, Director Health and Safety Services
