This means that EHS managers are responsible for:

• Regulatory Compliance
• Risk Assessment/Job Hazard Analysis
• Behavior Based Safety
• Audits
• Training 
• Incident Investigations
• Corrective Action Items

And more

As you can imagine, some of these tasks are easier said than done! We’re going to break this article down to cover some of the more complex responsibilities in this list and how mobile technology can make data gathering easy.

Regulatory Compliance

First, EHS managers need to have a firm grasp of all applicable required safety regulations. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has developed hundreds of standards that apply to a wide range of businesses and industries. These rules address a variety of workplace hazards, such as electrical hazards, toxic chemicals and substances, fall hazards, machine hazards, infectious diseases, and fire hazards. EHS professionals must be able to identify which federal and state standards their organization is required to comply with.

In addition, EHS managers also need to keep their eye on NEW rule making. Twice a year, the Department of Labor publishes a list of all standards and regulations in the Federal Register that are being worked on. These regulatory agendas are published in the fall and the spring and provide employers and interested parties with a means to track the progress of new or changing rules. Reviewing these agendas can help you to better prepare for upcoming changes and new rule making, so that you’re not playing catch up when they’re released.

Luckily, many safety software solutions (like ProcessMAP!) include built in features to assist organizations in achieving regulatory compliance. For example, ProcessMAP’s EHS management software ensures that its incident reporting module and its standard inspection templates meet OSHA requirements.  

The right EHS software will also offer a configurable design so that you can easily modify forms and reports to meet additional compliance regulations from other agencies or countries. With the rise of international standards such as ISO 45001, EHS managers need to start thinking globally, not just locally, when it comes to compliance. ProcessMAP is well versed in helping Global Companies with their compliance and reporting needs.

Risk Assessment

Historically, risk management wasn’t always a significant focus of an EHS manager’s job. However, that’s changing rapidly as more and more EHS professionals introduce risk management approaches into their safety programs. 

In a recent survey polled over 300 EHS professionals to learn more about the top priorities, challenges, and trends in safety management. 78% of respondents named risk management as a top factor in ensuring EHS success.

You can also turn to EHS management software for an effective framework of assessing and mitigating safety risks. ProcessMAP’s Risk Assessment module allows you to record and analyze hazards using a configurable risk matrix.

Safety Meetings

EHS managers lead safety meetings to remind new and current employees of workplace safety procedures and EHS policies. Employees focus so much on getting their work done that they might forget some of the rules that are in place for handling certain situations. One mistake could lead to an injury, so reviewing safety policies and procedures in regular safety meetings can help a great deal.

Generally, workplace safety meetings can cover a range of topics. The information that an EHS manager will review varies depending on the industry and the specific type of work performed at a location.

No matter what’s discussed, a good safety meeting should get employees thinking. During the meeting, EHS managers should encourage workers to come up with ideas and suggestions for minimizing the hazards with which they are most familiar.

These meetings are intended to be brief so that employees can better retain the information discussed. Most meeting topics can be covered in 15 to 30 minutes. Ending the meeting with a quiz or Q&A session are also good ways to reinforce covered material.

Behavior Based Observations

Safety Training frequency

Many OSHA standards contain explicit training requirements so that workers have the needed skills to keep themselves and others safe and most of the training is an annual requirement. These meetings can be delivered in many ways but the most predominant way is instructor led.

You must document that you have conducted a safety meeting, what was covered when, where and who attended occurred. This is easy to do with the ProcessMAP Mobile Application

With automated reporting, EHS professionals can swiftly determine the areas of their organization that are up to date with training requirements, which areas that need improvement, and can use this data to make informed decisions about their organization’s training program.