Environmental Management ||
By: Isreal Hodges
August 25, 2017
Most environmental permits require training that enforces the purpose and requirements described within these legally-binding documents. While it is widely known as a nuisance to employees and increasingly difficult for instructors, it is a foundational piece for any company with the potential to affect the environment. Due to the differences in regulatory interpretations between companies, cities, and even countries, there can be a wide range of quality when it comes to training programs. What separates a compliant training curriculum from those not meeting the mark according to regulators? How can good training programs become world-class? Here are the 5 tiers of world-class environmental training programs that are not difficult to implement, but require consistency to become powerful tools for effectiveness:
Tier 5 - Initial & Recurrent Training
Permit requirements, environmental statutes, and best management practices outline training frequencies for environmental programs applicable to your employees. It is important that these are reviewed often so you remain in compliance. Unfortunately, there are training programs with exceptional content but they are out of compliance due to not meeting the initial and recurrent training timelines. Each day associates are past due with their training can be another day’s worth of fines and/or penalties.
Tier 4 - Review of Regulatory Obligations
The main purpose of environmental training is to discuss the environmental requirements employees and their companies must follow to operate within their jurisdiction and maintain any permits needed to discharge into the environment. These requirements include guidelines on operations, recordkeeping, and designated personnel responsible for ensuring the program remains in compliance. It is vital that employees and management responsible for specific requirements are aware of them, and this may take additional training to review this in depth.
Tier 3 - Incident Response & Reporting
Additionally, training programs should review what the requirements are if companies and/or employees operate in a manner that is not allowed by their permit or environmental regulations they abide by. This can range from reporting requirements for unpermitted releases of chemicals and materials into the environment, to documentation of operational deviations that can be reviewed if requested by an external agency. Properly going over what is expected by the regulations from permittees can be the difference between a small incident that is easily managed and a major environmental release that can be costly.
Tier 2 - Pollution Prevention
The saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” perfectly explains why pollution prevention is important in any training program. Explaining proactive measures that the company and its employees should take decreases the probability that incidents occur. While the occasional incident occurs that can be considered “an act of God,” most incidents occur after smaller actions (or inactions) due to improper procedures, lack of training, or employee errors. Reviewing past incidents and how they could have been prevented is a fantastic way to enforce the pollution prevention techniques you teach so employees will understand the purpose behind them.
Tier 1 - Employee Empowerment
All items covered in training are ultimately executed by employees. Therefore, it is the job of the instructor and the training program to equip them with the knowledge, tools, and freedom to go back to their departments and work areas to properly use what they learn during training. This requires mutual trust between environmental professionals that explain the environmental regulations and those executing the requirements to keep facilities operating in compliance. Achieving this level of participation across a company is when it allows the transition from good to world-class.
If you & your company do not have one or more of these tiers in your training program, it is never too late to start implementing them. If you feel that your environmental program already incorporates each of these tiers, adopt an attitude of continuous improvement to ensure your world-class program remains that way.
Either way, feel free to contact us if you want some insights into how you can strengthen your company’s environmental training programs. It is amazing how the smallest improvements can result in cost savings, prevented incidents, and more employees empowered to created positive changes when it comes to environmental compliance & sustainability.
Take care, and the best is yet to come!
Take care, and the best is yet to come!