Businesses embarking on environmental health and safety improvement activities sometimes balk at the notion of implementing new backend tools, such as compliance auditing software, that catalyze EHS growth. Installation can require considerable time and corporate resources. In the end, EHS stakeholders are reluctant to commit to these expenditures in fear of implementing solutions that generate paltry return on investment. However, powerful, well-tested compliance auditing solutions like the one we produce at ProcessMAP can reliably deliver optimal ROI, ultimately paying for themselves not long after the implementation process has concluded. How?

Here are three ways quality compliance auditing software pays for itself:

Reducing corrective action costs

In 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration distributed more than 58,700 violations, according to internal records. The organizations on the receiving-end of these infractions likely incurred extensive penalties of tens of thousands or more. In addition to noncompliance fines, probably dealt with the costs of corrective action. Businesses evaluating EHS compliance activities often forget about expenses in the latter category, which can become substantial in the event that safety issues are rampant. Simply avoiding corrective action is not a viable option. OSHA assesses a financial penalty of $12,675 per first-time violation. That figure increases to $126,749 per violation for repeat offenders.

In the end, corrective action costs are necessary. Compliance auditing solutions such as the ProcessMAP product help reduce these expenses by allowing organizations to estimate the cost of corrective action before work commences. This capability makes it easier to responsibly take corrective action and reduces the likelihood of immensely expensive repeat violation penalties.

Addressing training-related expenses

Employee training is the most effective solution for addressing workplace safety deficiencies. When employees understand how to navigate their work environments safely, they can easily pinpoint hazards in need of mitigation and avoid behaviors that may lead to injury or death. This awareness, in turn, eliminates the costs that come with noncompliance or accident cleanup. However, many enterprise fail to provide workers with the instruction they need to stay safe on the job, according to research from the National Safety Council. Earlier this year, the nonprofit group surveyed 2,000 U.S. workers from more than a dozen different industries and found that over 30 percent respondents felt that the on-the-job safety training they received was inadequate.

Compliance auditing software comes equipped with training management components that ease employee instruction, leveraging sophisticated online tools to drive effective employee training programs that lead to safer workplaces and lower costs associated with noncompliance and event mitigation.