Beyond Compliance: Part 1

I had an interesting question posed to me last week.  I was asked why my 24 hour hazardous waste management class could not be done in five hours.  It seems another University was offering what looked like the same set of objectives for 1/5 of the time, and, since there was no regulatory time requirement, why did my class need to consume three days of someone's time?

After I dealt with my initial feeling of - if you can't comprehend the benefits obtained from 24 hours of instruction  from that received from only five hours - there is little I can offer to convince you otherwise.

To say I was disappointed would be a mild description of how I felt.  However, upon reflection, I now understand that what I was dealing with was a person who follows a very common mindset of "only do what is required - nothing more - nothing less."

What was interesting with this is that just prior to this conversation I had attended a meeting on the demise of EPA's Performance Track and the recommendations posed  by the working group put in place to develop a suitable replacement for it.

It was not until today that I fully understood the dynamics in play, and the need for a third - and more predominant - mindset that has been well received and adopted by many of my environmental cohorts called: "beyond compliance."

It is unfortunate that the views of those who are put in charge fall primarily into one of two camps:

• Focus on bottom line (business needs over everything else)
• Focus on regulation and enforcement (environmental needs over everything else)

The problem with these two ways of thinking is that they often overlook what is actually taking place in an effort to meet a particular established belief system.  The camp that now influences the EPA follows the mindset that business behaves in a way that increases risk to public health and the environment and the best way to minimize this risk is to increase regulation and enforcement.  

Because some Performance Track members were not 100 percent in compliance, it seemed almost a joke to give them the status of good environmental stewards.  Do some members use Performance Track as nothing more than a marketing tool?  Probably, but a lot of them use it as a way to get their management - who's focus is on bottom line - to adopt policy and operations that minimize the risk to human health and the environment and give the company long term sustainability and less liability in the future.

Doesn't everyone want that?  Well yes, but when you are judged by your bottom line on a balance sheet, that becomes the focus.  Long term liability?  Maybe that will happen, maybe not.  Environmental concerns?  That's not what we do at Spacely Sprockets!

It is basic economics in play here.  If there is no incentive there will be no energy outlaid.  Aha! We will force you to do what is best for the environment through regulation and enforcement!

No....no you will not.

You will never have enough regulations on the books to minimize the risk for every situation that may arise.  The general duty clause under OSHA attempts to remedy this but, big deal, it really only comes into play when an employee is injured.  No, you cannot reduce the impact to public health and the environment solely through regulations.

Regulations are influenced by public perception, which can be manipulated by those who have an agenda.  This does not mean that all regulations are suspect, some (like Used Oil regulations) make very good sense and balance the benefits of both enticement and impact.  Others have no bearing on actual risk but instead are based on a perception of possible risk (cleanup levels at Superfund Sites).  Still others are minimized through exemptions (climbing radio towers without fall protection).

A focus on compliance will miss an opportunity to do what is in the best interest of everyone. The mindset behind beyond compliance looks at the actual benefits to public health and the environment without regard to regulation.  This is a difficult task for EHS managers - the balancing between bottom line, risk, and stewardship - mainly because of the players on both sides of the aisle wanting their agenda met,  When these two mindsets are in a position of power, they can negatively affect our ability to implement what will actually make a difference.

One of the worst outcomes from discontinuing Performance Track - in my opinion - is that it makes it much, much harder to implement a beyond compliance philosophy in an organization unless the top guy believes in it.  What happens without the carrot is that the predominant attitude of middle management shifts towards the bottom line and the question of "why bother with going above and beyond what we are obligated by regulation to do?"becomes an easy way to deep-six what should - in our professional opinion - be done. 

Well Mr. EHS manager, what is the benefit to Spacely Sprokets?

Because it is the right thing for us to do.

Says who?

Says me...

Next Post: Trust me, I'm an EHS Manager -  Beyond Compliance: Part 2

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